Nick Sandmann is the Covington High School student who stood face to face with Nathan Phillips on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial Saturday. He’s the face that launched 10,000 angry tweets from leftists concerned about…something. Up until now, the only thing we’ve heard from Sandmann is the statement he released with the help of a PR company. And that was dismissed by Nathan Phillips in his interview with CNN. Here’s how Phillips characterized Sandmann and the other kids:
- “It looked like these young men were going to attack these guys. They were going to hurt them. They were going to hurt them because they didn’t like the color of their skin.”
- “…here are American youth who are ready to, look like, lynch these guys. To be honest, they looked like they were going to lynch them.”
- “I felt like I denied them their prey. I felt like I denied them their prey and so they were going to take it out on me.”
- “I’m the one whose all that anger and all that wanting to have the freedom to just rip me apart, that was scary.”
So given that Phillips has accused these kids of being violent racists ready to lynch someone and tear bodies limb from limb. It seems reasonable that Sandmann also get a chance to give the public his side of the story, especially given that numerous individuals and media outlets have admitted the context wasn’t initially clear. Earlier today, NBC’s Savannah Guthrie announced that Sandmann was being interviewed and his story would be broadcast on the Today Show Wednesday morning.
Sitting down with Nicholas Sandmann – the student at the center of the protest controversy at the Lincoln Memorial. Airs tomorrow on @TODAYshow pic.twitter.com/oSb8ljunQN
— Savannah Guthrie (@SavannahGuthrie) January 22, 2019
That did not sit well with people on the left who only want to hear the story they’ve already heard and nothing else.
So who's doing the companion interview with Nathan Phillips?
— Marisa Kabas (@MarisaKabas) January 22, 2019
Today has already done a segment featuring Phillips (video below).
Do you think Pepe the Frog is available for Thursday’s show? Can Dylann Roof do a segment from prison? Heart-to-heart with some Fentanyl traffickers?
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) January 22, 2019
Dylann Roof murdered people. Nick Sandmann, at worst, smirked at a guy beating a drum in his face.
In any other time, this young man would likely be suspended from school for disrespect.
You people put him on TV.
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) January 22, 2019
Punish him! Apparently having his life threatened by an angry mob isn’t enough. One of the big talking points on the left is that Sandmann is getting professional PR advice (which seems to be true). Isn’t what Sandmann has experienced the definition of a PR crisis? The real objection is that he might not get punished enough for his sins, even if no one is really sure what those are.
https://twitter.com/BillCorbett/status/1087798543136497665
This next person is calling for a boycott of the Today Show. Over 3,000 likes so far. How dare Today let the kid speak!
Hey everyone-
If we can organize boycotting Trump’s Oval Office address, we can certainly orchestrate a boycott of @TODAYshow and @SavannahGuthrie for at least week! Who’s in?
— Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) January 22, 2019
Here’s your unhinged Hitler comparison (Hitler’s smirk was infamous):
Sounds awesome! Will you be digging up Hitler’s corpse for a fun dialogue on Thursday as well Savannah?
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) January 22, 2019
Lots of people are witholding judgment in hopes Guthrie will savage the teen evildoer.
I love the "Today" show. If this ends up being a puff piece and you don't confront him about his actions captured on film, I'm done.
— Benjamin Siemon (@BenjaminJS) January 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/erinbiba/status/1087819596806189057
I hope when you look back on your career, this stands out to you as the utterly shameful moment it is.
— Tom and Lorenzo (@tomandlorenzo) January 22, 2019
But the general feeling is that he just shouldn’t be allowed to speak. When all you have is a de-platforming hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Why? Leave it alone. It's already an overexposed mess. What do you think the kid's gonna say? Why do you need to interview him? I'm disappointed in The Today Show. Ignore the #CovingtonBoys .
— Lesley Abravanel (@lesleyabravanel) January 22, 2019
Don’t give this kid a platform. He wasn’t “peacefully“ staring down Nathan Phillips. By legitimizing his actions you are encouraging more of the same.
— brian fidler (@brianfidler) January 22, 2019
NBC News is giving Nicholas Sandmann a platform.
Because smug little Kavanaughs in Training have a story to tell too, I suppose?
— Russell Drew (@RussOnPolitics) January 22, 2019
There are hundreds of responses like these, all of them from people on the left who are furious that this child might get a chance to speak for himself and possibly even clear his name. How dare he not succumb to the left’s narrative.
It’s worth noting that Nathan Phillips credibility has taken a hit in the last two days. Videos show it was the Black Israelites who were spewing racist hate toward these kids. And when Phillips walked into the crowd there was another man right next to him telling the students to go back to Europe (because they’re white). Finally, Phillips claimed twice in his CNN interview that he was a “Vietnam veteran.”
- “I’m a Vietnam veteran and I know that mentality of ‘There’s enough of us. We can do this.'”
- “And it’s because I’m a veteran — I’m a Vietnam veteran — that these two groups even have the right in this country to have protests, to have conflicting opinions.”
Turns out Phillips is a Veteran but not a Vietnam veteran since he never served in Vietnam. The Washington Post added this correction today to a story about Phillips which is published two days ago:
Correction: Earlier versions of this story incorrectly said that Native American activist Nathan Phillips fought in the Vietnam War. Phillips served in the U.S. Marines from 1972 to 1976 but was never deployed to Vietnam.
Phillips talks about wanting to create peace. If that were true he wouldn’t be issuing such vicious (and unfair) statements about these kids, he’d be offering them the same grace he offered the Black Israelite cultists. Instead, he’s been on a media search and destroy mission against a group of teens. And yet, somehow, a large number of people on the left still think Phillips is a victim.
For the record, I don’t think these kids behaved perfectly, but they’re 15 and 16-year-olds being shouted out by racist adults. They weren’t the ones provoking a confrontation and Sandmann, in particular, did nothing other than refuse to be cowed by a man who walked up to him and began beating a drum in his face.
Here’s a Today Show clip from this morning which features Nathan Phillips.
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