Mike Pence's NFL Walkout: Stunt Or Statement?

Vice President Mike Pence flew from Las Vegas to Indianapolis, apparently to watch the Colts play the San Francisco 49ers and honor Peyton Manning's career, but left the game before it even started and headed back to the West Coast. Pence said he walked out because 49ers players took a knee during the national anthem.

Pence had been ordered by President Trump to leave the game should any players kneel and the press pool traveling with the vice president never even entered the stadium after they were informed that there may be an early departure. The White House has made it clear that it doesn't approve of NFL players kneeling during the national anthem to exercise their First Amendment rights in protest of perceived oppression and injustices toward African-Americans and other people of color.

Trump, who has framed the wave of protests round disrespectful to U.S. military and the American flag, has suggested that players who take a knee should be fired and that the NFL should implement a rule requiring players to stand as "The Star Spangled Banner" is played. (For more information on this and other political stories, subscribe to the White House Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled, disrespecting our country. I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen," the president tweeted after Pence's departure, acknowledging the plan he had established with Pence.

RAW: Pence Family Leaving Colts Game After Protest

Pence issued his own series of tweets on the move and swapped his Twitter account cover photo to one of him standing during the national anthem with his hand on his heart. That was followed by a White House email to the press with that same photo of Pence standing during the national anthem.

Vaughn Hillyard, an NBC reporter who was part of the media pool traveling with Pence, noted that the press was kept in the vehicles they arrived in from the airport and reporters and photographers were not led into the stadium with the vice president.

"As media pool has been made aware, a staffer told pool that VPOTUS may depart the game early," Hillyard said in a tweet. "Did not indicate how early."

The orchestrated efforts at Lucas Oil Stadium cast suspicion on the vice president's intentions: the media pool being told that the vice president may depart early, Pence flying from Las Vegas to Indianapolis only to return to Los Angeles rather than staying on the West Coast and saving taxpayer money, and the fact that the Colts were playing the 49ers, a team no one could be shocked to see kneel.

Pence contended that he left because he could not dignify an event that disrespects the soldiers, the flag or the national anthem. The protests, of course, have never been about disrespecting the country and are about taking a stand against racial injustice.

"Pence was in town to upstage Peyton Manning," Sports Columnist Gregg Doyel wrote for The Indianapolis Star. "What, you think he didn’t know the 49ers would kneel on Sunday? Pence knew."

Trump tweeted again Monday morning that the trip by Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, was "long planned." Pence's office said the trip had been in the works for several weeks and discussions about what he should do if players took a knee didn't happen until the weekend, USA Today reported. Still, the vice president opened himself up to criticism.

CNN estimated that the cost of Pence's trip was about $242,000. Had he bypassed Indianapolis and flown directly to Los Angeles from Las Vegas, the trip would have cost him about $45,000. Pence's office said in a statement that had the vice president not flown to Indianapolis, he would have returned to Washington, D.C., for the evening.

Photo: Vice President Mike Pence waves to fans before an NFL football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2017, in Indianapolis. Photo by Michael Conroy/Associated Press