HOW ARE THEY SO BAD AT THIS?

This is a question I have asked a lot, and with increasing dismay as the election and the aftermath went on, how can the Republican party be so terrible, and why does that still get them nearly fifty percent of voters?

Now I am not just talking about being terrible people, they are, but what I mean is that they just seem to suck at politics too, since taking office, The Toddler hasn't made one smart decision, literally nothing he has done could be pointed to by someone who knows what they are talking about and described as the right choice, morally or politically. And this seems to extend to the entire GOP leadership.

Today I am talking about football again.

Mike Pence and his wife went to the Indianapolis Colts game on Sunday, the Colts played the San Francisco 49ers and honestly I have forgotten who won already and can't be arsed to look it up, the point is he was there, at the start.

See, the 49ers, among others, have a fair amount of players on their team engaging in silent protest during the national anthem, in this case kneeling, this has been going on all year and them doing so again on Sunday comes as no surprise to anyone. Except Pence, who took his wife and left in a huff.

Or so they would have us believe.

Mike Pence went to the game on the express orders of the president planning to stage his walkout. Done specifically to secure points from their rabid nationalist fan base. And therein lies the problem, the rabid nationalist fan base didn't need any more pandering on the issue. Let's leave aside for now the waste of taxpayer resources it was to fly the Pence family to a game they had no intention of watching, which are substantial, and focus on what they accomplished.

Nothing basically, I mean their base already loves them, and those protesting are unlikely to stop because the whitest person in the world is upset that black people have problems with racism. Any one with even a shred of political intelligence knew this, at best, this was a null event, and at worst just galvanizes opposition to them, I mean, let's say you are a person of color and protesting, the Vice President is there, the man who will likely be president himself within a year or two, he sees your protest, and then leaves. What does that tell you? Does it tell you that this man cares about you or your issue? No it does not, he cares more about an imagined insult to a piece of cloth than the subjugation of people like you. He values you only as a gladiator to fight and die for his amusement, and does not wish to hear that you have opinions at all. He is being a visible example of the very racism you are protesting.
At least, that is how it seems to me, I can't put words in their mouths obviously, but my guess is I am pretty close for at least a few of these folks.

I meant what I said about Pence likely being president soon, I feel like impeachment is pretty likely within the next year or so and honestly I feel like that was the reason Pence signed on to the ticket in the first place, he suspected The Toddler wouldn't make it a full term and felt like this would be a good way to get into office, seeing as how Pence has no charisma of his own.

So that in mind, he missed an opportunity to grab some support and build a reputation as a uniter. He could have gone to the teams and spoken with them about their problems, obviously he wasn't going to fix those problems because he is a bad person, but he could have lied about it at least, he could have listened to the players, hell even lectured them a bit if he felt like it, he could have suggested alternate protest methods or other ways to get their message out, he could have been the person to end the NFL anthem protests entirely if he played his cards right, but he didn't, he didn't even try. He didn't do anything to make anyone think he was a decisive and bold individual, hell he ran away as soon as he saw black people having opinions. This is not a move that would inspire confidence in anyone except those already inclined to vote for him, and honestly I don't think it would be all that impressive to them, looking more like the actions of a whiny teenager not getting his way, then the decisive second in command of the free world.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad they are bad at this, I just don't get how they are so bad at this. Have they always been terrible and I just haven't been paying attention? I feel like the politics of perception should be something people playing at their level have to have down cold at this point, but honestly it just seems like they are winging it, and that is sort of terrifying.