Trump's political speech at Boy Scout Jamboree

Is the video working? I'm not hearing anything at all when I try to play it.

thanks mollycoddle!

How old are most of the boys at the Jamboree? Why is he giving a political pep talk to these boys??

What an awful example for our youth. I am just heartbroken this awful human being is our president. 

the boys were required to be there. I'm on a few GS lists.. and many people were appalled that their boys (who were there) were subjected to this. . (many gS adults are also involved in bsa)..

trump does not know what honor means.. and showed it.

You know, there's just nothing more we can say about this man and his deplorable behavior, morals, ethics, yada, yada, yada. It's all been said and I suppose will continue to be said as long as he is in office. It's just unbelievable that our country, our whole political system, has been reduced to such a disgraceful level. I can barely read or listen to it anymore. It's really beyond comprehension that he seems to be so unstoppable.

Isn't their popcorn sale coming up soon? Checking the BSA twitter feed, it looks like they might have trouble selling it this year, if they don't make some sort of response condemning the speech.

It's sad that Trump encouraged them to boo Obama. But it's also sad that the boys in attendance went along with it. They are children, so I'm sure many of them have no idea why they were booing or why it was inappropriate. But Trump knows. And the leaders of the organization know. At what point does someone in charge stand up and say "I'm sorry, sir - but that's inappropriate and we're going to need to ask you to leave" - I'm sure it was uncomfortable for many of the adults there, but if you're supposed to stand up for what's right, sometimes that means doing the difficult thing.

I think back to the time when he started talking in that church while campaigning and it was the female pastor who stood up to him and told him to stop. Why is it only the women who seem willing to call out the emperor for his lack of clothing? Where are the brave, honorable men in this?

Did you see Pete Souza on Instagram...a photo of a small Cub Scout looking up at Pres Obama and his comment is

"I can assure you, POTUS was not telling this Cub Scout and the Boy Scouts who followed about his electoral college victory."

Hoping he brings back the good ole boys club

I'm with you. With their stance towards gay scouts and leaders softening, I was softening with them. No more. 

Was anybody else ruefully reminded of the time President Obama decided to deliver a (not unprecedented) televised back-to-school address to the nation's schoolchildren?

There were widespread accusations that the speech was an overt attempt by a "socialist president" to indoctrinate children ala Communist regimes. Evidence was some wording in a supplementary teacher handout published by the White House that mentioned "serving" the president as one of the goals of being a good citizen (among other "serving" suggestions, IIRC).

The nation exploded, a mother sobbed in fear on the national news, and the WH changed wording that the president probably didn't even know existed.

Contrast that with Our New Guy intentionally creating a situation in a speech that provoked the scouts to boo a former president.

I don't get it. The Boy Scouts had made a fair amount of PR progress in the past few years, such that parents I know who wouldn't let their kids join before were joining their kids and signing up as leaders. In one day they just flushed that progress. I would not necessarily think it off to have the president address the scouts, even if I think this one poorly embodies the values the scouts are supposed to embrace. But cheering on that speech? This president has a 37% approval rating. This is not good for your brand or your future.

I'm kind of torn on this one as far as the BSA go:

1. It's a tradition to invite the president. So I can see why they did.
2. They had to know that THIS president was likely to go off-topic and say some questionable things. So they were forewarned.
3. When he started to stray into unacceptable territory, where were the adults in charge? Yes, it's uncomfortable - but at some point you do have to stand up for decency. It's kind of the BSA thing to be prepared and take action, etc. If you were holding a weekly meeting and a guest speaker stood up and started spreading a white supremacist message, would you not stop the speaker for continuing? Or do you just let them continue to avoid the uncomfortable confrontation? Sure, it's the president - but that doesn't make the message any more appropriate. It just makes your task slightly more uncomfortable.
4. Now that it's over, what do the BSA do? They could come out publicly and say that the remarks in no way reflect the beliefs of the organization. It's kind of embarrassing when you think about it - "we are an organization that espouses fairness, kindness, honor and duty. Unfortunately, the president of the United States does not go along with that message." Which leads to...

5. Why is this man president again? Oh yeah, Hillary had emails. Benghazi. Clean coal. Deplorables.

This will be when I make my final judgement on their organization.  I have always supported the local troops peddling popcorn at the grocery. And I feel like those boys (usually cubscouts that are too young to even understand this whole debacle) shouldn't necessarily pay the price for what has been done by others who should have known better.  I guess I might also respectfully ask the parent leaders what percentage of profits stay with them vs go to the national organization as well.  


I guess the irony here is that I have always felt like supporting them because I think it is wonderful to see young boys getting engaged in an activity that gets them involved in the community and teaches them about things other than competition and win at all costs (like seems to be the main goal of sports around here at all levels) and gets them outside away from tv, video games, etc.  It felt like a good influence in their lives.... but if that influence is going to be a guy who is one step down the food chain of humanity from disgusting old drunk-uncle.... I just can't.