VP Mike Pence has criticized NFL players for kneeling in protest during the national anthem but critics (and most people with eyes) now say he is a hypocrite for refused to stand for the unified Korean team during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. A White House official told the AP,
“Pence stood only for the US team, despite other people in the box standing and applauding when athletes from the two Koreas walked in together.”
Remember, it was Pence who left in the middle of a football game in Indianapolis in October over his disgust at a number of San Francisco 49ers players who knelt during the Star Spangled Banner. Pence and Trump have repeatedly singled out football players who take a knee during the national anthem.
The gesture is of course in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter protests against police brutality toward the African American community.
Twitter was on this one like white supremacists on Susan Rice,
“So Mike Pence, the man who walked out of a football game because players were kneeling, sits while the HOST country athletes walk into the stadium at the olympics? HOW RUDE?”
Pence was seated in the VIP box along with other dignitaries, including South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and, most notably, the sister of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Un, Kim Yo-Jong.
They did not interact.
When the Korean unified team entered the stadium, both Moon and Kim rose in thunderous applause but the Veep and his wife, Karen, remained seated.
Responding to the criticism over his behavior at the stadium, a defiant Pence said that he would only stand for American athletes. Pence’s spokesperson, Jarrod Agen, tweeted today.
“The vice president ‘does not applaud [North] Korea or exchange pleasantries [with] the most oppressive regime on earth.” he prefers to “stand and cheer for US athletes” and “hangs out with US athletes instead of dining with [the] Kim regime.”
The shade of it all.
(Photo, YouTube; via Daily Mail)
