Boy Scouts’ Chief Executive Apologizes After Trump’s Inappropriate Political Speech Left Many Furious
Does It Go Far Enough?Â
The Chief Executive of the Boy Scouts has just issued a lengthy apology after the firestorm ignited by President Donald Trump’s highly inappropriate politicized speech at its quadrennial Jamboree.Â
“I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree,” Michael Surbaugh, Chief Scout Executive for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) said Thursday in a statement on the organization’s website. “We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.”
They only apologize to “those in our Scouting family who were offended.” That is not a wholesale apology. They owe one to the nation. https://t.co/sz42re4VCq
— Adele M. Stan (@addiestan) July 27, 2017
The BSA is a non-partisan organization, President Trump broke eight decades of precedent by injecting politics – not to mention outright animus – into his address to the children, who range in age from 11 to 17. Some believe the BSA did not do enough to prep the children of how they should behave, knowing that this President would likely behave inappropriately. Some have said the BSA should have previewed the President’s speech, or requested he not go off-script. In the end, tens of thousands of boys were subjected to an inappropriate display.
The President addressed about 40,000 Scouts and their leaders late Monday afternoon. His speech included profanity, a tale about a cocktail party, an incitement to boo former President Barack Obama and his recent political opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In it the President, who is automatically the honorary President of the Boy Scouts, took credit for the “massive crowd” of scouts, attacked the “fake media,” urged the Scouts give him their loyalty, talked about repealing ObamaCare, threatened to fire a cabinet member, bragged about his Electoral College win, and more.
“While we live in a challenging time in a country divided along political lines, the focus of Scouting remains the same today as every day,” Surbaugh said in his apology.
“Trustworthiness, loyalty, kindness and bravery are just a few of the admirable traits Scouts aspire to develop – in fact, they make up the Scout Oath and Scout Law,” he said, in what some see as a strong rebuke of President Trump’s remarks.Â
The @boyscouts have issued an aplology. While the statement doesn’t call out Trump explicitly, it is a strong condemnation of his behavior. pic.twitter.com/D3XVAihhfu
— Danna Young🇺🇸✌🻠(@dannagal) July 27, 2017
He also discussed “leadership skills,” “character,” “bring[ing] people together to do good in the world,” and “the importance of teaching values and responsibility to our youth — not only right from wrong, but specific positive values such as fairness, courage, honor and respect for others.”
On the Boy Scouts’ Facebook page, literally thousands expressed their anger and outrage immediately after Trump’s remarks. Many were parents and grandparents of Scouts, and many came from families with generations of Scouts. Many demanded an apology from the BSA, many blamed both the organization and the President. Some threatened to stop financial support of the group, others said they were pulling their sons out.
“You allowed a scouting jamboree to be turned into an ugly fascist rally straight out of Triumph of the Will,” one Facebook commenter stated. “How could you? Please reassure me what was said has no relation to the scouting values we cherish ourselves and hope to instill in our kids.”
“I am an Eagle Scout and Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow,” wrote another. “I am disgusted by the sham that occurred today at the Jamboree. These are not the values that the Scout Oath and Law teach to us. Lord Baden-Powell said that ‘It’s the spirit within, not the veneer without, that makes a man.’ It seems as if we have forgotten that fact.”
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Hat tip: TIME
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President Donald Trump delivered a forceful message to attendees at the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C.
In pre-recorded remarks, the president told the anti-abortion gathering, “under the Trump administration, we’re strongly defending religious liberty, we’re bringing back faith in America.”
“We bringing back God,” Trump declared.
Having praised the end of the constitutional right to abortion, Trump said, “the work to rebuild a culture that supports life continues in every state, every community, and every part of our beautiful land.”
“This is a battle that must be fought, must be won, not only in the corridors of power, but, above all, in the hearts and souls of the people,” he continued, suggesting a desire to end all abortion in the United States.
“We have stopped forced taxpayer funding of abortion at home and abroad, we’re championing faith-based adoption and foster care, and supporting our parents by investing $1,000 into an account that will grow over time for every newborn baby.”
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Vice President JD Vance told attendees, “let the record show you have a vice president who practices what he preaches,” before announcing that he and his wife Usha are expecting their fourth child, as Fox News reported. “And it will be our third baby boy. So, we’ll take whatever prayers you can give. We certainly need them.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson also spoke at the rally, declaring that Republican policies “support” American families.
“Republicans are working hard to deliver on the mandate you gave us in the last election, to make it easier than ever before, to raise a family in this great country of ours. And because we know that support for American families doesn’t end at birth, our policies reflect this.”
Critics challenged Johnson’s claim.
Health care activist Melanie D’Arrigo remarked that Republicans offer no universal health care, paid family leave, universal childcare, a living wage as a minimum wage, affordable housing, or tuition-free public college, but, she said, they have rolled back labor laws, gutted food assistance, and deregulated food safety.
Trump: “We’re bringing back God.” pic.twitter.com/Wsc7z9OFrf
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) January 23, 2026
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Image via Reuters
Americans in more than half the country are bracing for “hazardous ice, heavy snow and brutal cold” from a storm that a National Weather Service forecaster has predicted will be “crippling.” A potentially “catastrophic” ice storm is headed for the Southeast, and at least 14 states across the country have already declared a state of emergency.
The “potentially historic, massive winter storm will slam more than half of the United States today, moving east as it brings heavy snow, widespread ice accumulation and dangerous cold,” NBC News reported. “Up to a foot of snow is likely on the northern side of the system from Oklahoma to Massachusetts, according to the National Weather Service.”
About 1,300 flights have already been canceled ahead of the storm that is expected to hit 40 states across the nation.
Business Insider reported, “Americans strip store shelves bare as millions brace for a potentially historic storm.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Friday morning took the opportunity to mock what he called “Environmental Insurrectionists,” as he asked, “whatever happened to global warming???”
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Hours later, Trump posted to Truth Social artist’s renderings of his Triumphal Arch, which he wants built in Washington, D.C, near the Lincoln Memorial — with a start date of sometime in February. He wants it completed by Independence Day for the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration.
“It hasn’t started yet. It starts sometime in the next two months. It’ll be great. Everyone loves it,” Trump told Politico in December. “They love the ballroom too. But they love the Triumphal Arch.”
Last month, President Trump revealed what the White House’s top domestic policy goal is. The president shared with attendees at a Sunday holiday party that the “primary thing” for the head of his Domestic Policy Council, Vince Haley, is building Trump’s dream arch in Washington, D.C.
“Vince is unbelievable on policy. And we have a policy thing that’s going to be unbelievable happening,” Trump said of the proposed arch, as The Daily Beast reported.
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“It’s something that is so special. Uh, it will be like the one in, in Paris, but to be honest with you, it blows it away. Blows it away in every way,” Trump said. “And Vince came in one day and his eyes were teeming. I mean, he couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. He saw it and he wanted to do that. That’s your primary thing.”
Critics slammed the president for focusing on his arch while ordinary Americans are struggling.
Patriot Takes, a social media account with nearly half a million followers, blasted the president, sarcastically saying he “is laser focused on things that matter to the American people.”
The Independence Arch. pic.twitter.com/I7GnQAH9Ko
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 23, 2026
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Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s coalition is “falling apart,” according to columnist Matt K. Lewis, who writes at The Hill that Trump’s list of accomplishments seems more like “a cry for help.”
Pointing to Trump’s rapid subject-changing, Lewis noted that the president kicked off the new year by invading Venezuela and capturing Nicolás Maduro.
“From there, things escalated briskly,” he wrote. “He defended an ICE agent who shot and killed a protester in Minneapolis named Renee Good. He threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act. He threatened to take Greenland — possibly by force. He threatened to slap tariffs on European allies over Greenland. He suggested his failure to win the Nobel Peace Prize justified taking Greenland. And he almost failed to issue any acknowledgment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, waiting until bedtime to do so.”
Lewis says that while somewhere there is a “constituency” for each of these individual actions, “taken together, they resemble a blitzkrieg against public opinion.”
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He summed up Trump’s low poll numbers and concluded, “America has seen this movie before, has been reminded of how it ends, and is already edging toward the exit.”
So, if the 2024 election held today, it’s “not at all clear” that Trump would win. he said, in part because “Trump’s winning coalition was so sprawling and incoherent that pleasing one group would automatically enrage another.”
So what’s happened in the past year?
“Trump is very good at campaigning and very bad at governing. This explains almost everything that has happened since he took office one year ago this week, including the nation’s rising consumption of Rolaids.”
Disappointment from the “newer members of his coalition” came from “the ultimate realization that Trump’s most electorally appealing promises — such as lowering grocery prices on day one — are never actually going to happen. Indeed, Trump’s policies — tariffs, for example — were almost custom-made to increase grocery prices, which is generally frowned upon by people who eat.”
As it turns out, “Trump’s true superpower … only works when he is not actually in charge.”
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Image via Reuters
Trump: ‘We’re Bringing Back God’
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