Trump Gave a Boy Scouts Speech Like No Other

Dips heavily into politics after asking 'who the hell wants to speak about politics?'
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 25, 2017 6:43 AM CDT
Trump Gave a Boy Scouts Speech Like No Other
President Trump waves to the crowd of Scouts at the 2017 National Boy Scout Jamboree at the Summit in Glen Jean ,W.Va.   (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

President Trump addressed the 19th national Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia on Monday and extolled the values of working hard and never giving up. But he also strayed from those Scout-like subjects into the realm of politics, hitting on familiar topics such as "horrible ObamaCare," the "fake media," the DC "cesspool," and his victory over Hillary Clinton. Here's the full transcript. Some highlights:

  • Big moments: The Toronto Star rounds up 17 "jaw-dropping" moments in the speech to kids, including when he joked about firing his health secretary if ObamaCare repeal failed. (He also singled out West Virginia's Sen. Shelley Moore Capito.)
  • More standard advice: "So as much as you can, do something that you love, work hard and never ever give up, and you're going to be tremendously successful, tremendously successful."

  • Clinton: He spoke of working hard in the campaign, particularly in Michigan. "You know, my opponent didn't work hard there because she was told she was going to win." (The crowd booed her.)
  • Obama: “By the way, just a question. Did President Obama ever come to a jamboree?” Trump asked, triggering boos. Obama had never attended because of policies against gay Scout masters, notes the New York Times.
  • A question from Trump: "Who the hell wants to speak about politics when I'm in front of the Boy Scouts? Right?"
  • Cocktail party: Trump regaled the Scouts with a story about attending a cocktail party in the 1980s and meeting famed housing developer William Levitt, whose career was on the wane at the time. Why? Because, and this was the lesson, he'd taken time off and "lost his momentum." The Week has a video clip.
  • Election night: "But 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."
  • Too political? Some current and former Scouts thought so, with reactions rounded up at Time.
  • Trolled: Pete Souza, Obama's White House photographer, continued his not-so-subtle Trump trolling by posting this image of Obama with a Boy Scout. Obama, he writes, wasn't telling the boy "about his electoral college victory."
(More President Trump stories.)

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