Trump Gives Unfathomably Weird, Inappropriate Speech to Boy Scouts
On This Day In 2017
Trump invents a lie; the Boy Scouts call him on it. It’s the Olympics of Scouting. So the Boy Scouts of America invited Trump to speak at their National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, their quadrennial gathering of 40,000 Scouts and volunteers from around the world.
The Jamboree—traditionally an opportunity for presidents to pitch the nonpartisan virtues of public service—became incredibly partisan as soon as Trump opened his mouth. Here are a few bananas excerpts. (Remember, his audience ranges in age from 10 to 18):
“I saw him at a cocktail party, and it was very sad because the hottest people in New York were at this party.”
“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?”
“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?’”
“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.”
“And by the way, under the Trump administration, you’ll be saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again when you go shopping. Believe me. ‘Merry Christmas.’”
After receiving criticism for the speech, OTDI 2017, Trump boasted “I got a call from the head of the Boy Scouts saying it was the greatest speech that was ever made to them.”
Um…no. “We are unaware of any such call,” the Boy Scouts responded in a statement. “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,” said the Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh. “We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.”
The word "weird" has been tossed around a lot recently. But, let's not forget, Donald Trump has always been weird.
Get Weirder; Dive Deeper
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The AP described the back and forth re Trump's false claims
The NYT had the follow-up