Of course not. But that’s the theory of a liberal Washington Post writer called Catherine Rampell. She writes:
I. . .wouldn’t be surprised if Pence attended Friday’s performance specifically hoping, or at least expecting, to stoke boos and a brouhaha that would ultimately rouse the Republican base — and distract from much more embarrassing Trump-related news.
What embarrassing Trump-related news? The Trump University settlement, foreign diplomats booking stays at Trump’s hotel, and personnel selections that Rampel deems “rabidly bad.”
But Trump’s left-wing critics won’t be diverted by what happened”Hamilton,” and the rest of America doesn’t share the left’s view that there have been “embarrassments.” Trump U was a non-factor in the election (just ask Marco Rubio). Few outside of the left see anything wrong with Trump’s selections. And we can only be amused by the left’s feigned outrage over hotel bookings, given its tolerance for Hillary Clinton’s pay-to-play State Department.
In fact, it’s the absence of genuinely embarrassing Trump-related news that impels Rampel to float her silly theory of Pence’s visit to Broadway. Typically, the first reaction to losing a presidential election is to identify “embarrassing” news — ugly portents — related to the victor.
When few find the news embarrassing, the victor will be viewed as an “evil genius,” who thanks to almost super-natural political and public relations skills, is manipulating the universe and thereby getting away with “murder.”
This is what people who complain about a “teflon president” have in mind. They can’t understand why the things they claim are agitating them aren’t agitating most Americas. Rather than admit to nit-picking, they resort to the pseudo-concept of a teflon president.
At some point after the victor actually becomes president, his actions or conduct will become problematic to people other than his sworn enemies. At that point, nonsense such as the notion that his vice president went to the theater hoping to be booed and (if really lucky) lectured to by lefty actors is replaced by attacks that pass the straight-face test.
But these days, who has the patience to wait that long?
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