Doyel: Vice President Mike Pence uses Colts for political purposes

INDIANAPOLIS – North Korea and its nukes can wait. The White House has declared war on the NFL. And on the First Amendment.

Two weeks after President Trump decreed that NFL players who kneel during the national anthem should be fired, Vice President Mike Pence walked out of Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday after about 20 members of the San Francisco 49ers knelt during the anthem. The 49ers were in town to play the Indianapolis Colts.

Pence was in town to upstage Peyton Manning.

More:Trump: I asked Pence to leave Colts game over anthem protests

Swarens: Mr. Vice President, please get your priorities straight

What, you think he didn’t know the 49ers would kneel on Sunday? Pence knew. The 49ers are the one franchise, the only franchise, that have had at least one player kneel before every game since Colin Kaepernick was the first to do it in the 2016 preseason. Kaepernick played for the 49ers, of course. Last week, following Trump’s unpatriotic assertion that he would fire someone for exercising their First Amendment rights, more than half the San Francisco roster knelt.

Pence knew.

Hell, the media members that follow Pence were told before the game not to bother leaving their vans and enter Lucas Oil Stadium, according to a tweet from NBC News Vaughn Hillyard. They wouldn’t be there long, because Pence wouldn’t be there long. Trump, as Trump is wont to do, took credit in a tweet for Pence's walkout by saying he'd asked Pence to leave if anyone knelt.

This was planned.

Listen, part of me – a small part, and not that part that won this internal argument – admired Pence for the irony of his blatant look-at-me maneuver. NFL players are doing the same thing when they kneel for the anthem, right? It’s about making a statement. It’s about pushing an agenda. Let’s not be hypocritical here and ignore that.

And I say that as someone who supports their right to kneel, and more than that, understands why they do it. Great as our country is, best in the world, we’re still failing to provide equality for minorities. It’s heartbreaking, so many of the headlines we get these days, like the ones last month from Charlottesville, Va. Go back a few years and there are other cities: Ferguson, Mo. Sanford, Fla. Baton Rouge. Minneapolis.

The bigger part of me is stunned that the President – and now Vice President – of the United States would take such a public position against one of the greatest rights the U.S. Constitution grants us: freedom of speech. It’s one thing for you to rip NFL players for kneeling during the anthem. They have the right to kneel, and you have the right to hate it. You have the right to boo. You have the right to rise from your seat and leave the game. So many of my family members fought overseas, some of them not coming back completely whole, for you to have that right. So, boo. So, leave. You don’t have my agreement, but you have my support.

But when the top two elected leaders of our democracy decide that political speech – in this case, a silent and non-violent form of political speech – is unacceptable to the point of walking out of the game where it happens, well, that’s chilling. That’s the kind of oppressive nonsense our ancestors were leaving when they crossed the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of years ago.

As an aside, how much taxpayer money did Pence waste to make this grandiose statement of political oppression, anyway? He traveled here with his usual contingent of aides and bodyguards, and he didn’t fly standby on Delta. Chew on that for just a minute.

As another aside, what was Pence thinking, doing this on a day the Colts franchise thought he was in town to honor Peyton Manning and celebrate his induction into the Ring of Honor? As VP of the country, and as Indiana’s former governor, Pence has a standing invitation to come to a Colts game and watch it from a suite. A few weeks ago he accepted that offer. He claimed a suite just off mid-field.

More Doyel:Colts players explain why they are kneeling for national anthem

More Doyel:Once a team divided by anthem protest, Colts bond over T-shirts

The presence of the U.S. Vice President is a disruption, anywhere he goes. Colts fans were urged in an announcement by the team – and by IMPD – to come early to navigate the expected delays:

Public Safety is our number one priority. Due to Public Safety enhancements, the Indianapolis Colts, IMPD and Lucas Oil Stadium encourage fans to arrive early to Sunday’s 49ers vs Colts game. Kickoff is at 1 p.m., gates open at 11 a.m.

The Colts had no idea – none – that he would be leaving before kickoff. They were just the wall Pence was using to paint his political graffiti.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/gregg.doyel.