“Who the hell wants to speak about politics when I’m in front of the Boy Scouts?” Donald Trump said Monday.
Funny he should ask that, because Trump talked a lot about politics during his speech Monday at the National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia.
That angered a veteran scout leader, who said Trump made his appearance in front of about 30,000 Boy Scouts all about himself.
Ted Genoways, a scoutmaster whose family has had close ties to the Boy Scouts of America for decades delivered a scathing tweetstorm after Trump used the occasion to once again to take aim at the press, political rivals, and Obamacare in his speech.
Ted Genoways
@TedGenoways
I’ve got a few words to offer about what Trump did at the National Jamboree today, but first let me establish some bona fides…
Genoways said he was thankful that he wasn’t in that crowd, and that Trump “trampled” his family’s long tradition of attending the BSA jamboree, particularly as he and his son were making plans to go.
“Worst of all, he did it for no reason. He made the national gathering of Boy Scouts about himself only [because] he makes everything [about] himself,” he said.
“As Scouts, we were taught never to make our service about politics. Scouts are not supposed to appear in uniform at political events. And yet, Trump saw fit to turn the largest gathering of Boy Scouts into a political gathering, as if they had come together only to see him.”
Throughout his speech, Trump boasted how great the economy was doing under his government, celebrated his win of the 2016 election, and asked the crowd if Barack Obama ever came to the jamboree, to which the crowd responded “no” and jeered.
While Genoways conceded he has a “conflicted” relationship with the BSA, he said Trump had dishonored the organization by making a “mockery of its ideals,” and now it will have to “disavow” statements made by Trump.
Replying to @TedGenowaysBut Trump didn’t dishonor the Boy Scouts by falling short of its standards; he made a mockery of the ideals themselves. It’s what he does.
FollowSadly, the @boyscouts are now in a position of having to disavow statements made by the president, but that’s what they must do.
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Later, the Boy Scouts of America issued a statement saying that the presidential visit “is a long-standing tradition and is in no way an endorsement of any political party or specific policies.”
Finally, Genoways raised the last time Trump had any dealings with the BSA. That was back in 1989 when Donald Trump Jr.’s $7 membership fee was paid from the proceeds of charity.
Replying to @TedGenoways @boyscoutsAnd by the way, the only time that Trump ever had any previous dealings with the Boy Scouts was when Don Jr. joined in 1989.
The membership fee was $7 in those days—and Trump didn’t pay it out of pocket. He took the money from charity. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-boasts-of-his-philanthropy-but-his-giving-falls-short-of-his-words/2016/10/29/b3c03106-9ac7-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html …
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