Nicholas Sandmann's full remarks at the 2020 Republican Convention: Sandmann was a student at Kentucky’s Covington Catholic High School who attended the 2019 March for Life in Washington DC
Nick Sandmann at RNC: Americans must ‘unite
around’ Trump who calls the media out
Sandmann, donning his red Make America
Great Again hat while speaking at the Republican National Convention, said that
the 'country must unite around a president that calls the media out, and
refuses to let them create a narrative instead of reporting the facts'
Tue Aug 25, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 25, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Pro-life teenager Nick
Sandmann offered a firsthand account of the recklessness of the mainstream
media Tuesday evening at the Republican National Convention, casting the 2020
presidential election as a decision to rally around a president who stands up
to press misconduct.
Sandmann was a student at Kentucky’s Covington Catholic
High School who attended the 2019 March for Life in Washington DC, and found
himself at the heart of a national firestorm when the press erupted with claims
that a video showed him and his classmates harassing Native American activist
Nathan Phillips outside the Lincoln Memorial.
But additional extended video and firsthand
accounts soon
revealed that Phillips was the one who waded into the group waiting
for its bus and decided to beat a drum inches from Sandmann’s face, while the
boys had merely performed school cheers in hopes of drowning out racist taunts
from members of the Black Hebrew Israelites fringe group.
Speaking on video from the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial, Sandmann walked the audience through the leadup to the incident,
including his fateful decision to purchase one of President Donald Trump’s red
Make America Great Again hats because Trump “has distinguished himself as one
of the most pro-life presidents in the history of our country.”
“Looking back now,” he said, “how could I have possibly
imagined that the simple act of putting on that red hat would unleash hate from
the Left and make myself the target of network and cable news networks
nationwide?”
“My life changed forever in that one moment,” Sandmann
said. “The full war machine of the mainstream media revved up into attack mode.
They did so without researching the full video of the incident, without ever
investigating Mr. Phillips’ motives, or without ever asking me for my side of
the story.”
“And do you know why?” he asked. “Because the truth was
not important. Advancing their anti-Christian, anti-conservative, anti-Donald
Trump narrative was all that mattered. And if advancing their narrative ruined
the reputation and future of a teenager from Covington, Kentucky, well so be
it.”
“And I know you’ll agree with me when we say that no
one in this country has been a victim of unfair media coverage more than
President Donald Trump,” he continued. “In November, I believe this country
must unite around a president that calls the media out, and refuses to let them
create a narrative instead of reporting the facts.”
Sandmann concluded his remarks by declaring “one
more thing: let’s make America great again” and donning the now-infamous red
hat.
As additional video came to light last year, many
journalists and public figures quickly deleted their snap
condemnations of the students. Some, however, either tried to keep the original
narrative alive or refused to unequivocally retract or apologize for their
initial claims, leading to various lawsuits on behalf of the boys. So far,
Sandmann’s attorneys have settled lawsuits against the Washington Post and CNN.
Six suits against other targets remain pending.
Unsurprisingly, mainstream media coverage of Sandmann
speaking at the convention has been vague about exactly how he became famous,
with once CNN caption merely writing that he “sued major media outlets over
viral video.”