This was going to be was the mainstream media’s moment. Finally, indisputable evidence of the evil that President Trump had instilled in America. This was the left’s chance to get President Trump and this time, it would stick.

A viral video seemed to show "Make America Great Again" cap-wearing kids from a Kentucky Catholic high school jeering and mocking a Native American in the nation’s capital. Throngs of people took to Twitter to condemn the kids. I was one of them.

But then, a much longer video of the incident emerged, giving a broader context to what had actually taken place last Friday near the Lincoln Memorial. And it became clear that the short clip – the one that we all had instantly devoured without a second thought – didn’t actually show anything.

MICHAEL GOODWIN: COVINGTON KIDS’ RACE, RELIGION AND POLITICS MADE MOMENT DRY TINDER FOR SOCIAL MEDIA BONFIRE

It’s not that it had been taken out of context. It’s not that the situation was more complicated than we originally thought. It’s that there wasn’t anything there in the first place. There wasn’t now, and never had been, any evidence of the high school students doing anything untoward.

I took my tweet down. So did many others. Most of the press walked back their reports. But now I wonder: Why did we all jump on these kids in the first place?

This wasn’t a case of the press lying. Not this time. I made the same judgment that they did and I wasn’t lying. This wasn’t one of the media’s usual, deliberate distortions of facts or vitriolic attacks.

This was something different. This was the ultimate example of the raw power of political correctness.

Liberals like to say there aren’t any limitations on speech, and it’s true that they can say or do just about anything. But conservatives apparently can’t even stand still while wearing a MAGA hat without crossing a line.

We have been indoctrinated to see the world through a politically correct lens. We’ve been conditioned to see a video of white people in MAGA hats standing in front of a Native American and assume that the white people are racists.

We have been indoctrinated to see the world through a politically correct lens. We’ve been conditioned to see a video of white people in MAGA hats standing in front of a Native American and assume that the white people are racists.

Nick Sandmann – a young kid who was confronted by a total stranger (who by the way is anything but the innocent and peaceful protestor the media cast him as) – just stood there. He didn’t engage, he just smirked. He smirked while wearing a MAGA hat.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

And even I – a supporter of the president who inspired that hat – instinctively turned on him.

Political correctness is the deadliest of political weaponry. Once imposed, it leads to complete self-censorship of your opposition. When we reach the point where we can watch a video like the one of the Covington kids this weekend, and instantly conclude that they were behaving badly (when they weren’t), we face political self-annihilation.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE BY CHARLIE KIRK