Trump appeared oblivious to the reality that he was addressing representatives of an organization which was launched in February, 1910, and now has around 2.4 million youth participants and nearly one million adult volunteers.
Trump cited the Scout law, but got no further than the word "loyalty," before he went off on a tirade about the lack of loyalty he encounters these days. He then told a story about a wealthy American tycoon which he hinted might have some naughty bits.
As a former member of Boy Scout Troop 505, Monroe, Georgia, I was disgusted with the President's speech at this year's Boy Scout Jamboree.
Steven Bosak, a Cub Scout leader and a parent, took to the pages of the Washington Post to weigh in on the President's speech. He lamented:
"My youngest Cub Scout could have watched that speech and realized that no Scout should think of Trump as a role model. Trump boasted, he preened, he whined, he threatened -- and he spoke about the importance of winning. Win, win, win, he chanted, as if he were channeling the Great Santini character in the well-known book."
Loyalty is included in the Boy Scout oath and law, but to Trump, "loyalty" was not applied to the lives of the boys, parents and leaders to whom he spoke. Like everything else in his narrow world, the word loyalty applies only to himself.
A Boy Scout pledges to follow that Scout Law, words which have been memorized and embraced since Scouting began in 1908. A Scout is expected to always be "trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent."
I find not one word in that list for which President Trump has demonstrated even the slightest affinity. This man is so focused on himself that he sees no shame in his performance.
Officials of the Boy Scouts, apologized for the speech:
"A leader of the Boy Scouts of America apologized Thursday for a speech that President Trump gave to thousands of teenage Scouts earlier this week -- in which Trump broke with the Scouts' earnest traditions by criticizing his political opponents, recounting his election victory and talking about parties on yachts.
"'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,' Michael Surbaugh, whose title is chief Scout executive, wrote in a message posted online."
Two days later, Trump committed his second atrocious act of the week, tweeting an unexpected ignorant, insensitive, declaration, that he will instruct "his generals" to rescind an Obama-era action that allows transgender Americans to serve openly in the military.
Such an action is not only ill-informed and unjustified, it demonstrates a total lack of understanding of the successful integration and valued service of transgender military personnel into our nation's armed forces.
One of "his generals," who are the nation's generals, not his, quickly responded with the obvious reminder that a "tweet" is not a presidential order. If such an order of implementation were directed to "his generals," such implementation might just take a bit longer than Trump expects.
At the end of last week, Trump continued his "tough guy" self, delivering advice to police officers. The advice, The Daily Beast reports, was vintage Trump:
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