#runswitch

Recap: Nick’s entire defense was that Nathan Phillips started the confrontation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #MAGAkids are #GoodCatholicBoys

Nick Sandmann’s statement was written by RunSwitch PR, a Republican public relations company founded by a former adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Super PAC. One of the partners happens to be Trump’s CNN mouth piece Scott Jennings. 

As a PR company, they’re going to be digging up dirt on Phillips, as Facebook did when they hired a Republican company to discredit George Soros and as Republicans did to Christine Blasey Ford.

How can Julie Weis Sandmann and Ted Sandmann afford a high priced PR firm who represents huge corporations such as Pfizer and Philip Morris?

Tuition at Covington Catholic High School is $8,750 a year. Their site has been down for at least 2 days. Wonder why?

How connected are his parents to Republicans?

Why Scott Jennings besides being a Kentuckian?

He defended Cindy Hyde-Smith’s “public hanging” comment

He continues to defend Trump’s racism  — all of his immigration '’policies’ even the ones that were ruled illegal by multiple federal judges.

Some of  RunSwitch’s juicer statements!

CNN has Nick‘s (RunSwitch’s) complete statement.

“I never felt like I was blocking the Native American protestor. He did not make any attempt to go around me. It was clear to me that he had singled me out for a confrontation, although I am not sure why.”, Nick Sandmann / RunSwitch

“I did not witness or hear any students chant "build that wall" or anything hateful or racist at any time.”, Nick Sandmann / RunSwitch

"I was worried that a situation was getting out of control where adults were attempting to provoke teenagers", Nick Sandmann / RunSwitch

I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation... I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand.",  Nick Sandmann / RunSwitch

The Sandmann’s win Republican trifecta

But on Monday, a report by the Louisville Courier-Journal revealed that Sandmann’s statement had been crafted by a Republican-linked public relations firm founded in part by a former staff member and adviser to current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, also of Kentucky.

RunSwitch told the Courier-Journal in a written statement that it “has been retained by the Sandmann family to offer professional counsel with what has become a national media story. We are working with the family to ensure an accurate recounting of events which occurred this past weekend.”

Another of the RunSwitch co-founders, Steve Bryant, said that the firm became involved with the Sandmann case when the teen’s family “reached out to our firm, and we responded,” according to the Louisville paper’s report.

View Julie Weis Sandmann’s Facebook page before she deleted it. Courtesy of @encyclopediaproblematica‏ on Twitter

Watch Michael Dyson vs Scott Jennings Debate If Pres. Donald Trump Is Racist

Grace Schneider at Courier Journal: 

In the hours after video clips showed Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann standing face-to-face with a Native American man during a rally in Washington, D.C., the incident went viral and drew a huge backlash against the teen and the Northern Kentucky school.

But by Sunday evening, the coverage of what happened provided a more detailed account of events, along with a statement from Sandmann that seemed to tamp down the explosion of anger against the teen — thanks in part to extended video from the rally and the involvement of Louisville public relations firm RunSwitch PR.

On Sunday night, Sandmann released a three-page statement in which Nick defended his actions and offered his version of events. Describing himself as a Christian and practicing Catholic, he wrote that the Native American man, Nathan Phillips, had approached him, not the other way around. Phillips supported that in separate interviews later in the weekend.

Asked about its role, RunSwitch released a statement saying that the firm "has been retained by the Sandmann family to offer professional counsel with what has become a national media story. We are working with the family to ensure an accurate recounting of events which occurred this past weekend.”

RunSwitch partners Steve Bryant and Gary Gerdemann said that Sandmann family asked people they knew over the weekend about getting help with handling the media.

"They reached out to our firm, and we responded," said Bryant, adding that the business specializes in crisis management "all over the country."

Scott Jennings, a conservative political commentator and a columnist for the Courier Journal, is the third partner in RunSwitch.

The original short video showed Sandmann, wearing a bright red "Make America Great Again" hat, facing Phillips as the man pounded an indigenous drum and chanted. A larger group of students jumped and clapped to the beat while Sandmann appeared to smirk at the man. He and Phillips were nearly touching in the video.

The impression was that the teen was being disrespectful and fellow students were glad to egg on a confrontation. Covington Catholic High and the Diocese of Covington condemned the behavior of the students, with the diocese vowing to open an investigation.

Sandmann and his family's statement said in part that the teen wasn't trying to inflame tensions.

"I believed that by remaining motionless and calm, I was helping to diffuse the situation. I realized everyone had cameras and that perhaps a group of adults was trying to provoke a group of teenagers into a larger conflict. I said a silent prayer that the situation would not get out of hand," he said in the statement.

"... I did smile at one point because I wanted him to know that I was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation."

The statement came amid a pivot on coverage of the story on Sunday, after more video emerged showing other protesters at the scene yelling at and taunting the Covington students. Phillips told the Detroit Free Press that he stepped in to diffuse the crowd of students who were interacting with a group identified as the Black Hebrew Israelites.