I would have liked to tell the VP "No, we're not doing this and I don't appreciate being bypassed like this. Don't do this again." or something like that that. In my view, VP the Sales has no business meddling with my juniors.

I'm not a manager and have no interest in becoming one but I have often wondered what is going through a manager's head when they cave to egregious horseshit from executives. I find this simulation really interesting and maybe it might help me empathize my manager more.

Yes, because the manager is not paid anymore to do code and code review but to preserve political capital, manage team and other stakeholders as well. Glad that it provided a perspective and see your manager with more empathy.