In politics it’s embarrassing when you get used by your opponents so thoroughly that you have nothing left to do but pick up your marbles and go home. But that is what happened to governors across the nation, as they sent their National Guard units to play backdrop for a Joe Biden photo op. Realizing they were taken, they want out of the game.

That, and no controversy over accommodations, is the actual reason these governors are demanding the return of their troops. But, the show must go on.

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FNC: “Govs. Ron DeSantis, Chris Sununu and Greg Abbott announced that they are bringing their National Guard troops back from Washington, D.C., after reports they were posted up in a parking garage near the Capitol to rest during their shifts, a move that caused outrage at the treatment of the servicemembers.  ‘I have instructed General Norris to order the return of the Texas National Guard to our state,’ Abbott tweeted late Thursday. Abbott had also previously lodged a similar objection to DeSantis over the background checks into National Guard servicemembers.

‘Last night, I ordered our Adjutant General to bring Florida National Guard soldiers home from the National Capital Region,’ Florida Governor DeSantis said in a tweet Friday. The U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) ordered the troops to move their rest area during their 12-hour shifts from inside the Capitol to the Thurgood Marshall Judicial Center parking garage, the National Guard said Friday.” That’s their story and they’re sticking to it.

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But Acting USCP Chief Yogananda Pittman countered, “I want to assure everyone that, with the exception of specific times on Inauguration Day itself while the swearing-in ceremonies were underway, the United States Capitol police did not instruct the National Guard to vacate the Capitol Building facilities. And on Inauguration Day, the Guard was notified and encouraged to reoccupy the spaces in the Capitol and CVC at 2 p.m. It was brought to our attention early today that facility management with the Thurgood Marshall Judicial Office Building reached out directly to the National Guard to offer use of its facilities.” And that’s another story. Nobody wants to have to take the fall for this one.

The funny thing is that the soldiers themselves probably hardly cared. As an Army veteran I can tell you, an indoor parking garage is a relatively nice place compared to other environments I’ve been in during time in the field. All the carping and boo hooing, not to mention the sanctimonious offers of other indoor spaces, are from people who never served in the military. If they had, they wouldn’t have been so histrionic about the situation.