Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh issued the apology Thursday in a statement three days after Trump’s speech to nearly 40,000 scouts and adults gathered in West Virginia.
As Surbaugh noted, every sitting president since 1937 has been invited to visit the jamboree. But in the past other U.S. presidents have delivered nonpolitical speeches at jamborees.
To the dismay of many parents and former scouts, Trump, a Republican, promoted his political agenda and derided his rivals, inducing some of the scouts in attendance to boo at the mention of Barack Obama, his Democratic predecessor.
“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,” Surbaugh said. “That was never our intent. … We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, at a news briefing, was asked about the Boy Scouts’ statement and whether Trump owes the organization an apology.
Sanders said that she’d been at the event and didn’t see anything inappropriate.
“I saw nothing but roughly 40,000-45,000 Boy Scouts cheering the president on throughout his remarks,” she said. “And I think they were pretty excited that he was there and happy to hear him speak to them.”
Sanders is trying to defend the indefensible.
Scout leaders issued guidelines to adult staff members for how the audience should react to the speech. Any type of political chanting was specifically discouraged.
The guidance wasn’t completely followed and scout leaders apologized.
But Trump also should be apologizing for his inappropriate and overtly political speech.
https://www.phillytrib.com/commentary/trump-s-offensive-boy-scout-speech/article_0ae45b51-0912-56aa-b301-394c702c7595.html
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