President Trump this morning again weighed in on NFL protests, responding on Twitter to yesterday's incident in Indianapolis involving Vice President Pence. Trump tweeted, "The trip by @VP Pence was long planned. He is receiving great praise for leaving game after the players showed such disrespect for country!" (TWITTER.com, 10/9). Pence's walkout from the 49ers-Colts game "kept the faceoff between the White House and the NFL going for the third week in a row," and it "turned yet another Sunday game into a political clash between the players and the Trump administration" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/9).
With the Colts honoring Peyton Manning at halftime, Pence "trumped a day that belonged to the greatest football hero the state of Indiana has ever seen, and he did it for political purposes." He "stole Manning's last great day as a Colt" (SI.com, 10/8). For 49ers S Eric Reid, who knelt for the anthem yesterday, Pence's move was "one of the best examples to date of one of the issues he's trying to highlight." Reid said Pence's walkout was a "PR stunt" and a "case in point for systematic oppression" (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 10/9).
The Indianapolis Star features the story on its front page: "Pence Leaves Game, Decries 'Disrespect.'" This morning’s editions of ABC’s “GMA” and NBC’s “Today” reported on Pence's walkout in the first eight minutes of the broadcast, with reports from their national political correspondents. “CBS This Morning” aired a short news brief on Pence about 50 minutes into the broadcast (THE DAILY).
