Screen capture from YouTube

I’ve worked in the journalism and public relations worlds long enough to recognize a PR campaign when I see one. And that’s what’s going on with the Covington Catholic High students, who have somehow been turned into heroes after they harassed a Native American elder.

The story kicked off towards the end of last week when a video appeared on Twitter showing Nathan Phillps, a Native American elder and veteran, being stared down by Nick Sandmann, a Covington Catholic High School student. Phillips was surrounded by other Covington students, who mocked his heritage by making tomahawk chop signs.

Phillips said he was trying to intervene after he saw the Covington students were about to confront a group of Black Israelites, an insane black supremacist group, who were insulting all passersby.

The resulting media storm painted the Covington students as racist. However, a PR campaign sprung up that tried to cast the media as being too quick to smear the Covington students. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders even said the media was “so happy to destroy a kid’s life.” Her comments were mocked by David Hogg, who witnessed the Parkland school shooting, and was attacked by sections of the right-wing media and even called a “crisis actor.”

Sandmann appeared in a “Today” show interview so soft I’m surprised Savannah Guthrie didn’t offer him a tissue and ask what his favorite color was. Other Covington students appeared on FOX News, always a bad sign, and defended wearing blackface claiming it was “school spirit.”

Todd Starnes, a chinless wingnut who’s so conservative he probably thinks khaki pants are racy, claimed the Covington story was an example of how white young men were under attack.

“Maybe it’s time for white parents to sit down with their sons and have long talks about the dangers of being a pro-life, pro-Trump Christian in America,” said Starnes. “Or that they might be targeted and profiled for wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat, that they could be left bloodied and beaten in the streets. Maybe they should tell their sons, ‘Society will judge them by the color of their skin instead of the content of their character.”

The PR campaign was designed to embarrass the media and get them to talk about something other than the Trump-Russia scandal. Trump isn’t really interested in governing, all he cares about is winning the news cycle.

However, this media blitz didn’t come out of nowhere. It was created by Runswitch PR, a firm with ties to the Republican Party. The firm is also owned by Scott Jennings, a Republican who frequently appears on CNN. The PR campaign also has ties to the Trump administration since White House attorney Pat Cipollone is a Covington alumnus. Trump has also expressed interest in inviting the Covington boys to the White House.

The PR campaign was designed to embarrass the media and get them to talk about something other than the Trump-Russia scandal. Trump isn’t really interested in governing, all he cares about is winning the news cycle. He’s even said to watch TV and grin when a story he leaked pops up on the chyron.

This worked for a while. For a few moments, most media outlets led with the Covington story. But a few days later, Trump’s threats forced his former attorney Michael Cohen into not testifying in front of Congress and the president was back under the gun again.

But the Covington story briefly worked to some extent, with some members of the media deleting their initial tweets and offering red-faced apologies. But the media needs to stick to its guns. In a Deadspin article titled, “Don’t Doubt What You Saw With Your Own Eyes,” Laura Hayes, wrote: “I don’t see how you could watch this and think otherwise unless you’re willing to gaslight yourself, and others, in the service of granting undeserved sympathy to the privileged. Many were more than happy to do just that.”

The Covington kids were obnoxious and racist, later released videos showed them verbally harassing women and one student said: “It’s only rape, if you don’t enjoy it.” They were also wearing MAGA hats, a slogan that really means Make America White Again.

The Covington PR campaign had an even more insidious goal. It was designed to get people to doubt the media. Trump quickly joined in, as if he didn’t have more pressing issues to worry about, by branding the story fake news. This is a Russian tactic mastered by Vladimir Putin. You sew so much chaos into the media, people question everything. All news is fake, nothing is true.

Last year, Trump said that you can’t trust the news and urged his followers to only believe what he says. This from a man who has told more than 8,000 lies since he got into office!

But this has worked. Trump has used the fake news label to smear all news outlets. While they may occasionally make mistakes, news outlets such as CNN, MSNBC and the New York Times are not fake news. “Fake news” is produced by the National Enquirer, an outlet that had an agreement to kill negative Trump stories, the Onion and FOX News. That’s real fake news!

But Trump wants us to believe the bulls**t and doubt the real news! When Trump says fake news what he really means is “news I don’t like.” And scarily enough it’s working. When Sandmann’s mother was confronted with his actions, she blamed the encounter on “the black Muslims,” and called it “fake news.”

However, the Covington story is a blip on the media landscape. It was designed to distract the press, but they eventually got back to the real story — how Trump is following Putin’s orders to destroy the American government.