In front of a crowed of over 35,000 last night, President Trump delivered one of his most unusual speeches at the Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree. With topics ranging from boasting about his election victory, to cocktail party banter with bankrupt real estate developers, and even lambasting HHS secretary Tom Price if they don’t get the votes for the healthcare bill.
Trump said he was happy to escape the heated politics of Washington, but nonetheless took shots at the media, Democrats and even home-state Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito.
Highlights from the speech (via Axios):
“Loyalty, we could use some more loyalty I’ll tell you that.”
“You’ll be saying ‘Merry Christmas‘ again when you go shopping.”
He said he was keeping his promises on energy, the economy, and rebuilding the military.
On election night: “That incredible night with the maps…that map was so red it was unbelievable.”
Advice for the scouts: Love your job. “When you do something you love like I do… you’re not really working… you don’t really think of it as work.”
Trump spoke about the importance of not losing momentum and never quitting. To illustrate that point, he spent several minutes speaking about William Levitt, a real estate developer who was once one of the richest men in America but saw his wealth slip away by the time Trump met him at an exclusive New York cocktail party.
President Trump tells story of meeting NY developer William Levitt at a cocktail party during Boy Scout gathering. https://t.co/RxBQoyQeZJ
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 24, 2017
The president used the anecdote as a means to encourage the Boy Scouts, telling the crowd to “never quit, never give up.”
Later, Trump asked the Boy Scouts if President Obama ever came to their national jamboree. The crowd seemed to boo the former president. (While Obama did not attend the event in person, he recorded a video message in 2010.)
And it was the heavily political tone of the speech that sent social media into kenniptions. Democrats said they were “sick to their stomachs,” and as former acting CIA director (under George Bush) John McLaughlin tweeted, the rally “had the feel of a third world authoritarian’s youth rally.”
Trump’s Boy Scout speech had the feel of a third world authoritarian’s youth rally.
— john mclaughlin (@jmclaughlinSAIS) July 25, 2017
via http://ift.tt/2tWGKXm Tyler Durden