President Trump: Head Of Boy Scouts Called To Say I Gave The Greatest Speech Ever Made To Them
[guest post by Dana]
Last week, President Trump spoke at the Boy Scouts of America’s National Jamboree. Traditionally, speeches made by presidents at these events are benign, non-political and focus on the values esteemed by the organization. However, after last week’s speech, the president found himself criticized for giving a political campaign speech, replete with inflammatory rhetoric and political digs. In other words, the speech was typical Trump. Sandwiched in between the sort of comments you would expect a President of the United States to make to Boy Scouts, were assorted jabs directed at President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Fake News, Fake Media, a subtle warning to Secretary Tom Price, and a pathetic rehash of his election win:
Now with that, I have to tell you our economy is doing great. Our stock market has picked up — since the election November 8th. Do we remember that date? (Applause.) Was that a beautiful date? (Applause.) What a date. Do you remember that famous night on television, November 8th, where they said — these dishonest people — where they said there is no path to victory for Donald Trump? They forgot about the forgotten people. By the way, they’re not forgetting about the forgotten people anymore. They’re going crazy trying to figure it out. But I told them, far too late. It’s far too late.
But do you remember that incredible night with the maps and the Republicans are red and the Democrats are blue, and that map was so red, it was unbelievable, and they didn’t know what to say? (Applause.)
And you know we have a tremendous disadvantage in the Electoral College — popular vote is much easier. Because New York, California, Illinois — you have to practically run the East Coast. And we did. We won Florida. We won South Carolina. We won North Carolina. We won Pennsylvania. (Applause.)
We won and won. So when they said, there is no way to victory, there is no way to 270. I went to Maine four times because it’s one vote, and we won. But we won — one vote. I went there because I kept hearing we’re at 269. But then Wisconsin came in. Many, many years — Michigan came in.
And we worked hard there. My opponent didn’t work hard there because she was told —
AUDIENCE: Booo!
THE PRESIDENT: She was told she was going to win Michigan, and I said, well, wait a minute, the car industry is moving to Mexico. Why is she going to move — she’s there. Why are they allowing it to move?
And by the way, do you see those car industry — do you see what’s happening, how they’re coming back to Michigan? They’re coming back to Ohio. They’re starting to peel back in. (Applause.)
And we go to Wisconsin — now, Wisconsin hadn’t been won in many, many years by a Republican. But we go to Wisconsin, and we had tremendous crowds. And I’d leave these massive crowds. I’d say, why are we going to lose this state?
The polls — that’s also fake news. They’re fake polls. But the polls are saying — but we won Wisconsin. (Applause.) So I have to tell you what we did, in all fairness, is an unbelievable tribute to you and all of the other millions and millions of people that came out and voted for Make America Great Again. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
THE PRESIDENT: And I’ll tell you what, we are, indeed, making America great again. What’s going on is incredible. (Applause.)
It’s like the aged college quarterback who is well past his prime, and is sitting at the bar regaling the regulars with his glory day stories for the 100th time. Because that’s all he’s got.
After the speech, the Boy Scouts of America president Randall Stephenson said he wasn’t surprised by the speech:
“Anyone knows his speeches get highly political — we anticipated that this could be the case,” Stephenson said. “Do I wish the president hadn’t gone there and hadn’t been political? Of course.”
But the organization made the decision to follow tradition and invite this president – in spite of what they knew would come as a result.
And in the following days, there were complaints from parents about the president inappropriately inserting politics into the speech. As a result, the Boy Scouts of America issued an apology:
Scouts have continued to trade patches, climb rock walls, and share stories about the day’s adventures. But for our Scouting family at home not able to see these real moments of Scouting, we know the past few days have been overshadowed by the remarks offered by the President of the United States.
I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree. That was never our intent. The invitation for the sitting U.S. President to visit the National Jamboree is a long-standing tradition that has been extended to the leader of our nation that has had a Jamboree during his term since 1937. It is in no way an endorsement of any person, party or policies. For years, people have called upon us to take a position on political issues, and we have steadfastly remained non-partisan and refused to comment on political matters. We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.
Learning of the criticism, President Trump argued that the speech was not controversial and consequently, there was not a mixed reaction to it:
“And by the way, I’d be the first to admit mixed. I’m a guy that will tell you mixed. There was no mix there,” Trump said during the interview. “That was a standing ovation from the time I walked out to the time I left, and for five minutes after I had already gone. There was no mix.”
He then double-downed, saying:
And I got a call from the head of the Boy Scouts saying it was the greatest speech that was ever made to them, and they were very thankful,” Trump said. “So there was — there was no mix.”
Except, the Boy Scouts of America claim they are unaware of any such call having been made.
Look, let’s just be very clear about Trump: that he might lie about this is about as surprising as him littering a speech with boasts of his election win – even if that speech is being delivered to the Boy Scouts of America. Both behaviors are completely consistent with who we know him to be: a proven liar and a shameless braggadocio. So why on earth was anyone in the estimated audience of 40,000 surprised or taken aback by what the president said? Why would anyone expect anything different from him?
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana