Day 263: Mike Pence Wastes Over $250,000 of Taxpayer Money on Obvious Publicity Stunt

Yesterday, Mike Pence was in Indiana, allegedly to watch a football game between the Indianapolis Colts and the San Francisco 49ers. Several 49ers played kneeled during the national anthem, as they had been for much of the season — some had protested with former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick last season too — and Pence promptly left the stadium.

Pence issued a statement about his choice to leave.

Could there be a more obvious publicity stunt? Travel to a football game where something is likely to happen that Donald Trump and the administration have made into a bigger story than it ever was before, twist the actions and words of the players — hint: kneeling has nothing to do with the troops — and then stage a planned walkout. Oh, and then have a nice statement to go up on social media less than 30 minutes later. Nothing says impromptu walk-out like a prefabricated graphic on Twitter.

Flying to Indiana to see the Colts game was not only totally unnecessary, it was a tremendous waste of taxpayer funds.

Cost for this farce: over $250,000.

See, Pence flew to Indiana after being in Las Vegas Saturday night. On Sunday, he was scheduled to be in Los Angeles to begin a multi-day fundraising jaunt.

Pence traveled nearly 2,000 miles to turn around and do it again the next day, as opposed to making the less than 300-mile trip from Vegas to Los Angeles.

Operating Air Force 2 is an expensive endeavor.

Add in additional security costs, as Secret Service has to sweep and vet a new area before and during a vice presidential visit — especially at a high-capacity venue like a football stadium — and this trip easily exceeded the quarter of a million dollar mark.

Drain the swamp, right?

263 days in, 1199 to go

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