So I was initially very skeptical of attempts to defend the Catholic kids in MAGA hats who looked like they were mocking and jeering a veteran Native American – it was on video, and the imagery just didn’t look good.
BUT, since then, the media has ran with every lie they could to smear these kids.
@AG_Conservative on twitter has been really good at explaining and exposing the smears. Sorry to those who don’t like twitter threads, but this is a good one.
So I want to talk about the video of the kids and the Native man from this morning: I thought it was dumb and disrespectful when I saw it. Kids tend to do dumb and disrespectful things, but adults should have stepped in. At the same time, I don't like to focus on kids.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
As the day went on and I started seeing major media figures highlighting it, some reporters trying to identify the kids, and others suggesting violence against them, the more uncomfortable I got with this story. I wanted the kids to face consequences, but not a mob.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
These kids should learn a lesson, not have their lives ruined over a viral moment of them acting dumb. The main kid in the video was a primary target for a lot of big accounts. However, now that I've seen the full video, I'm even more annoyed at the mob.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
Forgetting the tweet, here is the video. You can clearly see that the native guy chose to go into the crowd. The kids were still behaving childishly, but it was Phillips who chose to go up to and drum in the face of the kid who was standing there: https://t.co/XV8O1bj9Wx
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
Yes, he was smirking and he could have moved, but does this kid really deserve to be expelled or have his life destroyed for it? I think people should treat others with respect. That failed here and I don't mind consequences for the kids, but let's keep it in proportion.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
I definitely think the full video makes Phillips look much less like a victim. I don't know if he thought they were joking around or what, but an adult should know better and not try to intentionally escalate such a situation. https://t.co/EYJXzT54a2
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
So apparently a lot of the outrage stems from The Washington Post taking Phillips' version and printing it, despite it being contradicted by the video. He approached the kid, not the other way around. And he could have gone around him or turned around at any time. pic.twitter.com/24sehzm66j
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
Pretty fair and reasonable to both sides, I would say.
CNN on the other hand, is trying to screw these kids over as much as possible:
AG continued later:
The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get about what Phillips did: He intentionally created a confrontation with kids, he celebrated when the kids maturely walked away, and then abused sympathy for him by lying about EVERY aspect of it to WaPo to smear the kids.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
Again, here is what he told the media immediately after.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
Video shows:
1) No "Build the wall" chant
2) Kid did not block him. He approached the kids and got in the face of that particular kid w/ his drum.
3) He had plenty of room to "retreat" or leave. pic.twitter.com/M59k6b1kuK
And then he cited his dead wife dying of cancer to build sympathy for complete distortion about what happened, which media willingly ran w/. Kids should have behaved better and just walked away, but shouldn't we expect more from an adult than smearing kids to the press?
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
This is one day after the Buzzfeed story, and once again the whole media ran with a false one-sided narrative instead of waiting for and getting the facts. NYT, WAPO, and almost every blue check.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
This keeps happening and most of the people in the media refuse to recognize it.
UPDATE: Since WaPo chose to only print the Phillips' version of the events (which was contradicted by video), here is a statement from one of the students involved (which actually mostly tracks with the video): https://t.co/dBeOLikrPD
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
Others are noticing the evidence is on the kids’ side:
Those kids still need a talking-to teaching moment, but it is increasingly clear that they don't deserve to become national hate objects. https://t.co/WygBbvlmBo
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) January 20, 2019
And there are new accusations because they want to pile on unnecessarily:
So now Phillips is inventing more easily disprovable lies about these kids, and the media continues to print them without checking.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
Unbelievable.
The "black protestors" in question were the ones yelling racist and homophobic slurs at the kids. https://t.co/hb84MAD6nF
Here is the full 2 hours of video FROM those protestors: https://t.co/wb0flbDHQq
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
These guys wanted to engage with the kids and to lecture them about their insane, racist, and homophobic theories.
I mean we literally have video of everything that happened here from multiple angles and news organizations are still printing "this is what they said happened" despite it being contradicted by the video, which they are apparently too lazy to watch.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
Start at 4:40 where the main activist starts his anti-gay lecture.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
5:40 "Your President is a homosexual"
Kinds: "Who cares?"
....
7:13 "It says 'In God We Trust', but you give f*aggots rights!"
Kids: "Woahh"
etc. etc.https://t.co/vbaW82dYYX
This is who Phillips claims the kids were "harassing" and ganging up on by simply engaging and countering these racist and homophobic activists.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) January 20, 2019
I mean these are pure smears and the media prints them uncritically.
There you go. I think he’s very fair on this. The kids could have acted a lot better, but they didn’t do anything near what they’re being accused of in the media and by leftist reactionaries. Beware the mob.
UPDATE:
Here’s another video showing how the Native American group confronted the kids, not the other way around:
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1087095671348318209How is this guy gonna now say he was being intimidated when HE is the guy that confronted them? Doesn’t make any sense….