Trump Speech To Boy Scouts Prompts An Apology From Scout Leader

President Donald Trump gave a speech to the Boy Scouts of America on Monday that a few days later, the Boys Scout’s chief felt required an apology.

“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. That was never our intent. The invitation for the sitting U.S. President to visit the National Jamboree is a long-standing tradition,” said Michael Surbaugh, Chief Scout Executive for the Boy Scouts of America in an open letter Thursday.

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The sitting president has been invited to speak to the scouts since 1937. Typically the president avoids discussing politics and focuses on service and community and the mission of the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts of America go out of their way to be a non-partisan organization.

“I said, who the hell wants to speak about politics when I’m in front of the Boy Scouts? Right?,” said Trump to start, but then ended up talking about “fake news,” the Republican health care bill, former President Barack Obama and the election.

In the middle of the speech he also threatened to fire Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who was standing on the stage, if the Senate didn’t vote to repeal and replace Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act.

“By the way, are you going to get the votes? He better get them. He better get them. Oh, he better. Otherwise, I'll say, ‘Tom, you're fired.’ I'll get somebody,” said Trump.

Trump also touched on some possible adult themes while he told a winding story about real estate developer William Levitt.

“He went out and bought a big yacht, and he had a very interesting life. I won't go any more than that because you're Boy Scouts so I'm not going to tell you what he did. Should I tell you? Should I tell you?” teased Trump.

Surbaugh thought that the speech overshadowed the point of the jamboree, which is to gather scouts from all over the world for two weeks of adventure and leadership.

“We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program. 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. Trustworthiness, loyalty, kindness and bravery are just a few of the admirable traits Scouts aspire to develop,” said Surbaugh.

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At the White House’s press briefing on Thursday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked about the apology letter and said she hadn’t seen it.

“I was at that event and I saw nothing but roughly 40-45,000 Boy Scouts cheering the President on throughout his remarks,” she said. “I think they were pretty excited that he was there and happy to hear him speak to them.”