I don't blame the Boy Scouts of America for inviting President Donald Trump to speak at the National Scout Jamboree. But I would blame the BSA's leaders if they ever invited him back.
I love the Boy Scouts. As a scrawny city boy I worked my way toward Eagle Scout, honing my mind, body and conscience. If I had ever been forced to sit through a BSA-sponsored political rally themed around partisanship and egotism, I would have rethought my membership and, perhaps, never learned the fine lessons the organization imparts.
The president called the nation's capital city a "sewer." He spent much of the speech glorifying his election victory: "Do you remember that famous night on television? On Nov. 8?" Trump said, as he insisted that winning the popular vote--which he failed to do--is a lot easier than his feat, winning the electoral college. He explained how he took Michigan's electoral votes and attacked his former rival, Hillary Clinton, whom some in the audience booed. He offered his usual substance-less babble about the evils of Obamacare and quipped that he would fire Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price if a repeal-and-replace bill did not pass the Senate.
Worst of all, the president twisted the meaning of the scout law. "As the scout law says, a scout is trustworthy, loyal--we could use some more loyalty, I will tell you that," he said in an apparent reference to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Loyalty for Trump is personal and flows in one direction--he expects it but does not give it. The loyalty that the scouts--and, for that matter, the Justice Department--stand for belongs not to a single man but to the country and its democratic system.
As Trump spoke Tuesday night, former scouts on Twitter angrily invoked the complete scout law: A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Trump neither exhibits nor extols any of these traits. He dwells on perceived slights and humiliates those who dealt them.
Trump is a well-documented serial liar who neglects his solemn responsibilities; Republican lawmakers have been perplexed at how little he understands health-care policy even though he may soon sign a bill that could mean life or death for millions. Also, remember when Trump encouraged his crowds to beat protesters? And remember when he was caught on tape glorifying sexual assault?
Trump's lesson for 30,000 young men was that the bullies are right and that humility and self-sacrifice are for suckers. Exulting in his election victory, attacking his political opponents and railing on about killing Obamacare, the president celebrated winning--and, specifically, his winning--above all else. His boastful speech did not model public-spiritedness; it showcased the immodesty and one-upmanship that the organization expects its boys to grow out of. Instead of addressing the crowd, the president could have learned something from its finer members, decades his junior.
"We'll be back," Trump told the crowd. I hope not.
Editorial on 07/26/2017