President Trump addressed the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia last night. His speech sparked controversy, as he veered from his prepared text to riff on politics. As usual with President Trump, however, the Left’s reaction is disproportionate to anything he actually did.
The Associated Press headlines its brief article “Trump’s political speech to Scouts inspires parental outrage.” Really? The article quotes not a single parent, and offers no evidence of any such “parental outrage.” The AP just made that up, along with this lead sentence:
President Donald Trump’s fiery speech Monday night at the National Scout Jamboree in West Virginia has infuriated parents and former Scouts.
In support of this claim, the AP quotes a grand total of one person: hyperpartisan Democratic Senator Chris Murphy:
“As a Scout leader, my stomach is in knots about what Trump did today,” Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, wrote on Twitter. “If you haven’t watched it yet, don’t. It’s downright icky.”
The AP also notes disapprovingly that Trump “began with a bit of profanity and then went on to rage for more than half an hour against the media and other perceived political enemies.”
This was the profanity, which seems pretty mild even for an audience of Boy Scouts:
I said, who the hell wants to speak about politics when I’m in front of the Boy Scouts? Right?
For the rest, was Trump really “raging”? No. If he had been, the Boy Scouts wouldn’t have enjoyed his speech so much. You can’t get a straight-up account of anything President Trump does from the Associated Press, so you may as well read the speech for yourself. As prepared for delivery, it was a standard pro-Boy Scouts, pro-America talk. It is rather amusing, actually, how easily you can tell when Trump departs from his text and riffs on politics.
Was it inappropriate for the president to criticize Democrats and the media in this sort of appearance? I think it was. But when do the Democrats ever forgo an opportunity to attack Trump? Never, as far as I can see. And who was it who politicized the Boy Scouts, trying either to drive them out of existence or to radically transform them? The Democrats. No wonder Trump got such a warm reception last night.
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