Trump and Pence: Bogus Respect for the Flag

As of yesterday, we know Vice President Mike Pence will never, ever stand for any anti-American crap.

Not from African-American football players, at least.

Nobody is going to disrespect our nation, our soldiers, our National Anthem and our glorious flag. Not while Mike Pence and Donald J. Trump are on guard.

Okay. True. Candidate Trump did say war hero John McCain was no war hero. That would be disrespecting soldiers for sure. 

Okay, true again.

He did attack a Gold Star mother during the campaign. That’s disrespecting her sacrifice, her son’s, the nation for which he fought and died, and finally the flag that covered his coffin when his body returned home. 

In other words, the hypocrisy of Trump and Pence in this matter should be clear. 

If you missed the story this weekend here are the key parameters. VP Pence flew back from Las Vegas, after comforting survivors of a bloody massacre, to put in his appearance at an Indianapolis Colts football game. This flight came at taxpayer expense; but who’s counting tax dollars right now! (Not former cabinet member Tom Price!) A spokesperson for Pence later explained this trip was definitely not a political stunt. First, the VP’s office posted a picture of the VP decked out in blue and white Colts gear. Second, they admitted lamely that very picture of that very same VP was taken in 2014, when he was not yet, technically, the VP. Third, they claimed Pence was in attendance only to honor Peyton Manning, longtime Indianapolis Colts star. The Hall of Fame quarterback’s statue was being unveiled before the game.

We know Trump and Co. have been having problems with statues for weeks. 

For now, let’s focus on Sunday. As kickoff approached there was Pence (but wearing a suit coat and dress shirt), standing erect, hand over heart, lovely wife by his side, also hand over heart, as the first strains of the National Anthem sounded before the game. Imagine, then, the VP’s “surprise” when two dozen players from the visiting San Francisco 49ers took a knee. (San Francisco players have been protesting at every game for weeks. So any surprise had to be feigned)

Well, that was that, as far as the shocked VP and the equally shocked Mrs. VP were concerned. Hardly had the final notes of the Anthem reverberated before they had bolted from their seats.

This protest angered the President and the VP  (and the VP's wife.)

Almost as soon as their feet touched the parking lot pavement outside, the Vice President was ready to tweet. “I left today’s Colts game,” he tappity-tap-tapped, “because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.” Then he and his wife hopped on Air Force Two and flew back to Los Angeles to enjoy the remains of the day.

That’s right. Mr. and Mrs. Pence they turned right around—protest of the protest complete—and headed for California. Estimated cost to taxpayers for their little Sunday jaunt: $242,500.

You could buy a lot of nice flags for that.

If you stopped to think about it—something President Trump clearly never does—you had to wonder what the furor was about. Flags are always symbols and flags mean different things to different people at different times. When I was a boy, for example, growing up in Northern Ohio back in 1961, I developed an abiding interest in the American Civil War. For some reason, I identified with Robert E. Lee and his brave troops who fought long odds for four bloody years.

At a museum in Gettysburg that summer, I used some of my allowance to purchase a replica of a Rebel soldier’s kepi hat. A small Rebel flag was glued incongruously, flat, to the top. I admit I wore that hat in many a faux battle fought in months to come in orchards and woods behind our home.

You can argue, rightly, I think, that not everyone who displays a Rebel flag is a racist at heart. But we should remember that increasingly, in the 1950s and 60s, it became a totem for bigots of every stripe. When the struggle for civil rights began to heat up half a dozen former Confederate states added it to the design of their state flags. Most have given the symbol up in recent years, several with reluctance. Alabama dropped it—you could say—but clearly kept it in spirit.

Alabama state flag c. 1967, top.
Current state flag, bottom.

Mississippi kept it for sure.

You might wonder, then, why some symbolic gestures involving flags bother Trump and Pence while others do not. In fact, you might argue that there is no greater sign of disrespect to the “Stars and Stripes,” to the soldiers who died carrying our flag and the nation for which it stands, than to fly or display the “Southern Cross,” as the banner is often called. Few enemies in history have killed more U.S. soldiers that General Robert E. Lee and his men, carrying that symbol high at his command.

Make America Great Again? Bring back slavery, maybe?

You can forget any nuances and throw decent respect for differing opinions aside when it comes to President Trump. He and his willing tool, VP Pence, understand their base far, far too well. That base is almost entirely white. And some portion, however large or small and rabid as it might be, still wishes when it comes to the American Civil War that Lee and the South had won.

Dylan Roof proudly displayed this symbol before murdering nine black parishioners at at Charleston, S.C. church.

Who loves this flag? The people at Breitbart News. As in, Steve Bannon,
key White House adviser, till recently, of President Trump.

Who else? Oh, these guys for sure. But their protests in Charlottesville in August didn't bother President Trump because they had a permit.

In fact, if you really care about people disrespecting our soldiers and flag,
maybe you want to consider who we fought during World War II.

A Trump campaign rally (above). Okay, that's a joke.

Exercising freedom of speech, the right to protest, and the right to be a bigoted dick.
Where was Pence when we really needed him to show he was pissed?

If you're going to fly back and forth across the country to protest, maybe this African-American police officer should be in your thoughts.
And it might be nice to remember that every American, even a neo-Nazi, has a right to protest.

African-Americans fought under our flag in the American Revolution, War of 1812, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II.
They were denied equal rights when they came home--after fighting under our flag.
Symbols mean different things to different people at different times.

Corey Stewart, now preparing a Republican run for the U. S. Senate in Virginia.
He cites Trump as his role model, of course.
"The era of the kinder, gentler Republican is over," he says.

This Sunday stunt by the VP, with support from our Divider-in-Chief had nothing to do in the end with respect for our nation, our song or our flag. Instead, picking a fight with mostly African-American athletes in the NFL, and to a lesser extent in the NBA, was a battle—like Gettysburg or Antietam—the President thought he could win.

The VP’s costly trip to Indianapolis was a sleazy stunt cooked up to put political points on a warped scoreboard, at taxpayer expense.