As many know, Trump appeared at this year’s National Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia last week and, predictably, made an ass of himself. After seeming to suggest that he was told not to turn the appearance into a political rally (“Who the hell wants to speak about politics when I'm in front of the Boy Scouts?” he shouted at the enormous group of children) he promptly turned it into a political rally, taking the opportunity to campaign for the repeal of the ACA, to recount his past experiences at New York cocktail parties, and perhaps most shamefully to denigrate President Obama, all to the apparent delight of his young audience.
To be clear, every president enjoys an open invitation to speak at the Jamboree, and those who have accepted in the past have done so quite gracefully. Most of what Trump said at his appearance, however, was blatantly partisan and wholly inappropriate for a Boy Scouts of America event, at which any partisan political speech is a clear violation of Scout rules. The enthusiastic reaction of the boys at this event was arguably in some large part an emulation of the behavior of Trump and of their adult leaders, who clearly failed them in this instance.
Well today, the Boy Scouts of America has finally been forced by the overwhelmingly negative public reaction to this spectacle to issue a statement: scoutingwire.org/… Perhaps not surprisingly, it does not cut it.
Did BSA Chief Executive Michael Surbaugh seriously just apologize "to those who were offended"?! This was an official Boy Scout event turned political rally at the hands of our shameless president, and is a clear violation of BSA policy. Everyone should be offended, and by making concessions to any misguided individuals who were not, Surbaugh lends validity to what Trump did.
I am ashamed to be an Eagle Scout, and to have introduced my two young children to Scouting. I declined to allow them to participate until BSA’s ugly LGBT issues were (mostly) corrected, and I thought the worst was behind us. I was wrong.