There’s been a huge negative response to a speech President Trump gave at the Boy Scouts Jamboree in Kentucky on Monday. The points of controversy included: telling age inappropriate stories, turning the event into a political rally that talked about his election victory, and pushing the need to pass his healthcare bill. People from all walks of life have weighed in on Twitter to voice their dismay. Here are a couple of tweets that sum up the problems.
Please @POTUS don’t put the Boy Scouts in this situation. Keep politics out of the Jamboree. What a mess. Totally unfair to these kids https://t.co/lW7rwtF612
– Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) July 24, 2017
I was a Boy Scout for five or six years. The whole point of the experience was to teach kids not to grow up to be like Donald Trump.
– Mark Salter (@MarkSalter55) July 25, 2017
President Trump is No Boy Scout
While there have been presidents that participated in scouting as children, young Donald Trump was never a boy scout. While the organization isn’t perfect, I have seen up close and personal the good that the Boy Scouts of America does for boys, young men, and their communities. Because of this, I can say that the values that are taught in the Boy Scout oath are not a joke or lip service. That Boy Scout oath they say is a map that helps guide these children for the rest of their lives. Self-disciple and a sense of responsibility to things beyond themselves are hallmarks of men who have been boy scouts. These traits are ingrained in the program and in the official boy scout oath.
On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my Country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.
Anyone looking at the actions of Donald Trump, the candidate, and of President Trump, knows that he is in no way, shape, or form a representative of the above values.
The Boy Scout Values President Trump Tramples on
What jumps out immediately as a value Donald Trump does not posses is keeping morally straight. “Grab’em by the *ussy” Trump is morally straight? Trump is a man who, as president, has lied so much that news organizations (the latest is the New York Times ) have been able to do entire articles listing each lie he’s told since taking office. President Trump has also fired the FBI director to stop an investigation into his campaign. Morally straight is not a phrase one can associate with him.
On being mentally awake his twitter feed alone can disqualify him. President Trump has self-sabotaged himself so many times with his tweets even Fox news has commented on it.
Here’s another sign of the president’s lack of boy scout training. It’s the debacle of him championing a healthcare bill whose tenants he himself has called “mean.” This bill is not about helping people or improving things for the community. Nor will President Trump take any responsibility for the bill he has urged senators to pass.
No, instead of accepting that as president the buck stops with him. President Trump tries to blame the democrats for not helping to fix the bill. Even though one might blame the democrats for the flaws in the Affordable Care Act, they have nothing to do with the bill currently being presented. The facts are that, for crafting the senate Trumpcare bills. the republican leadership chose to lock the democrats out of process – and The President went along with it.
The Most Important Boy Scout Oath Trait President Trump Lacks: Duty to Country
Beneath the official Boy Scout Oath are paragraphs explaining it in depth. One paragraph lays out what is meant by duty to country. Reading it shows that this is another test President Trump does not pass.
Every citizen has responsibilities to understand, defend, and improve his community. Duties include serving in public office, voting, protecting natural resources, and learning about our government system.
Well, we know Donald Trump did vote. Now he is the President of the United States – a public office. It is a matter of debate if he is serving the people of his nation in that position. The previously mentioned Trumpcare bill is a dereliction of duty to the American people. However, since his community consists of the super rich you could argue he is trying to improve it.
Where President Trump Completely Fails
It’s the last two points where President Trump is a clear failure. For one, he’s done the polar opposite of protecting our natural resources by gutting the Environmental Protection Agency and taking America out of the Paris Climate Accord.
President Trump also has a remarkable lack of understanding about the U.S. Constitution, the separate branches of our government, and the importance a free and independent press holds for our democracy. Whenever these entities do something President Trump doesn’t like he attacks the very foundations of their existence.
When you look at his various outbursts over things like his travel ban the problem is simple. President Trump doesn’t understand that judges, members of Congress, and the press are not there to do the president’s bidding. That is how dictatorships work, not democracy, In the U.S. these institutions are there to serve the people of America in respectively doing the following.
- Interpreting the laws and make sure they are in line with our Constitution.
- Making the laws to govern and serve the people that elected them.
- Finding and informing the people of the facts without government interference.
The 45th president’s lack of understanding on these matters was totally on display at the Boy Scout Jamboree.
Follow Us
