On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country
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,
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong,
mentally awake
and morally straight.
The Boy Scout Oath
On Monday evening I
watched Donald Trump’s speech to the Boy Scouts gathered for their Jamboree in Glen
Jean, West Virginia.
The Boy Scouts deserved better.
He began, not
surprisingly, by talking about the size of the crowd, which he somehow seemed
to think was there just to hear him speak.
He estimated the
crowd to be 45,000 people, which is only a little above the official appraisal.
“You set a record,” he said. “That's a great honor, believe me.”
He told them, appropriately, that this was not a time to talk
about politics. And then he gave a speech that was not just political, it was
embarrassingly and grotesquely partisan.
He talked about how Boy Scouts make good citizens, and then he
said, “The Scouts believe in putting America first.”
To their credit, the Scouts don’t believe in putting America
first. At least not ultimately. And anybody who knows anything about the Boy
Scouts knows that. It’s “God and country.” In that order.
He talked about draining the swamp and said that Washington was
worse than a swamp, it was a cesspool or a sewer.
The President of the United
States told the Boy Scouts that their government was a cesspool.
Or a sewer.
Think about that.
He told them repeatedly that the “fake news” media would not
cover his speech, that they would say the crowd was only a few hundred, and
that they would not show video of the large gathering. CNN and Fox both carried
the event live, as did C-Span. And the live cameras were showing the huge crowd
even as he told the gathering that it would not be reported.
Another great civics lesson.
He described the Affordable Care Act as, “this horrible thing
known as Obamacare that's really hurting us.” And he told them they should
pressure West Virginia Senator Shelley Capito to vote for repeal (in spite of
the fact that West Virginia is one of the states that will lose the most in Medicaid
funding).
And, of course, he told them about election night last November.
“Do you remember that famous night on television, November 8th where they said, these dishonest people, where they said, there is no path to victory for Donald Trump. They forgot about the forgotten people.
“By the way, they're not forgetting about the forgotten people anymore. They're going crazy trying to figure it out, but I told them, far too late; it's far too late.
“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.
“And you know, we have a tremendous disadvantage in the Electoral College. Popular vote is much easier. We have -- because New York, California, Illinois, you have to practically run the East Coast. And we did. We won Florida. We won South Carolina. We won North Carolina. We won Pennsylvania.
“We won and won. So when they said, there is no way to victory; there is no way to 270. You know I went to Maine four times because it's one vote, and we won. We won. One vote. I went there because I kept hearing we're at 269. But then Wisconsin came in. Many, many years. Michigan came in.
“So -- and we worked hard there. You know, my opponent didn't work hard there, because she was told...
“She was told she was going to win Michigan, and I said, well, wait a minute. The car industry is moving to Mexico. Why is she going to move -- she's there. Why are they allowing it to move? And by the way, do you see those car industry -- do you see what's happening? They're coming back to Michigan. They're coming back to Ohio. They're starting to peel back in.
“And we go to Wisconsin, now, Wisconsin hadn't been won in many, many years by a Republican. But we go to Wisconsin, and we had tremendous crowds. And I'd leave these massive crowds, I'd say, why are we going to lose this state?
"The polls, that's also fake news. They're fake polls. But the polls are saying -- but we won Wisconsin.
“So I have to tell you, what we did, in all fairness, is an unbelievable tribute to you and all of the other millions and millions of people that came out and voted for make America great again.
“And I'll tell you what, we are indeed making America great again.”
This is not what Presidents do.
It is not what any other President has ever done.
It is not normal.
A few weeks ago I was invited to give the invocation and the
benediction at an Eagle Scout Court of Honor for one of the young men in our
church.
The ceremony took place in the United Methodist Church in Gales
Ferry, CT. Among the many dignitaries taking part were the State Senator and
the State Representative from that district. One was a Republican and the other
was a Democrat. I don’t remember which was which. They sat together during the
ceremony. They went up together to present their congratulations along with
formal resolutions by the Connecticut House of Representatives and the
Connecticut Senate. They were friendly and civil and pleased to share in this
important achievement. And among other remarks they noted that Republicans and
Democrats don’t all hate each other.
If only the President had been listening.
Thank
you for reading. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome. Please feel
free to share on social media as you wish.
Yes, pretty "amazing" speech.
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