Trump's Speech To the Boy Scout Jamboree: How Not to Give a Ceremonial Speech

Donald Trump spoke to the Boy Scout Jamboree yesterday, July 24, 2017. The speech has been widely criticized as a campaign rally-style speech unsuited to the Boy Scout event. Comments include, "Everything that the BSA stands for was discredited today by the speech and the reaction from many attendees." Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, a scout leader himself, tweeted that Trump's speech was "downright icky." Criticism of the speech has been reported as far away as Australia and Great Britain.

I myself am a former Boy Scout and Assistant Scoutmaster; my son was an Eagle Boy Scout, and my

Donald Trump, WH photo

grandson is active in scouting. To be clear, I am not currently a member of any scouting organization and have no standing to speak on behalf of Boy Scouts of America.

Trump's speech was inappropriate, even shocking, in several respects. Consider, first, his introduction: "Who the hell wants to speak about politics?" Obviously, one does not curse in a speech to a group of Boy Scouts. Second, Trump repeatedly went off-script to talk about politics in the crassest fashion that can be imagined. Third, he denigrated Scouting's religious diversity. No grown man should speak to a group of children and teenagers in such a manner.

A ceremonial speaker usually praises a person, group, event, or object, and uses that praise to draw a larger lesson. It is not unusual for ceremonial speakers to talk about policy questions, but they usually do so within the context of teaching a larger value to uplift the audience. This is very much what Trump did not do.

Trump's speech did a few, very few, things right:

Admittedly, Trump did include plenty of praise for the Boy Scouts, for example:

"You are the young people of character, integrity who will serve as leaders of our communities and uphold the sacred values of our nation."

"Boy Scout values are American values. And great Boy Scouts become great, great Americans."

"Last year you gave more than 15 million hours of service to helping people in your communities. Incredible. That's an incredible start."

Trump's speech did many things very, very wrong:

Unfortunately, Trump speech's also included plenty of crude politicking. He bragged about his election victory over Hillary Clinton:

"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 were to 69. Then Wisconsin came in. Many, many years. Michigan came in."

"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 the state? The polls, that's also fake news. They're fake polls." 

Seeming to assume that the Boy Scouts (who are generally under 18 years of age) all voted for him, he repeated his campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again" (which implies that America wasn't already great):

"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."

He spoke against the Affordable Care Act, but not in the oblique fashion that is typical of ceremonial rhetoric. Instead he spoke in partisan terms:

"Secretary Tom Price is also here today. Dr. Price still lives the Scout oath, hoping to keep millions of Americans strong and healthy as our secretary of Health and Human Services. And he's doing a great job. And hopefully he's going to gets [sic] the votes tomorrow to start a path toward killing this horrible thing known as Obamacare that's really hurting us." 

Seemingly ignorant of Scouting's policy of being religious but nonsectarian, Trump said:

"And by the way, under the Trump administration you'll be saying "Merry Christmas" again when you go shopping, believe me."

Near the end of his speech, Trump returned to the usual idea of ceremonial oratory, which was to encourage the audience toward uplifting behavior:

"Let your scouting oath guide your path from this day forward. Remember your duty, honor your history, take care of the people God put into your life, and love and cherish your great country."  

That was too little, much too late.

Why Trump was in the wrong:

Australian philosophy professor Rob McCormack comments that ceremonial rhetoric "is in fact a fundamental political discourse, a discourse intent on re-founding political discourse, a discourse intent on re-founding and renewing a sense of community." Seeking division and self-aggrandizement, Trump's speech did the opposite, by dividing us from people of our own kind.

Reactions to Trump's speech have been quite negative, and rightly so. 

Trump ignored ceremonial speaking's ancient conventions, and, while speaking about Boy Scout values, repudiated those same values by the way he spoke. That members of the audience cheered, applauded, and booed during Trump's most outrageous statements is quite disturbing, and represented the increasing and negative polarization that has poisoned our nation's rhetoric. The audience's only correct response would have been to greet Trump's hostility with stony silence.

On the larger issue, Boy Scouts have always tried to be an inclusive organization (although they have only partially overcome their struggles with the rights of gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals). Although Boy Scouts are a religiously-focused organization, they have long welcomed members of many different faiths: not just Christians who might want to say "Merry Christmas." Boy Scouts can earn religious emblems in countless faiths, including Buddhism, Islam, Zoroastrian, Baha'i, Catholicism, United Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal, and many, many others. Boy Scouts are explicitly non-political. By violating the expectations of the event, Trump politicized Boy Scouting, and I see no good coming from his speech.

It should be mentioned that Barack Obama, who was booed during Trump's speech, was a member of the Indonesian Scouting organization. Donald Trump was not a Scout.

Boy Scouts of America subsequently offered a statement: "The Boy Scouts of America is wholly non-partisan and does not promote any one position, product, service, political candidate or philosophy. The invitation for the sitting U.S. President to visit the National Jamboree is a long-standing tradition and is in no way an endorsement of any political party or specific policies. The sitting U.S. President serves as the BSA's honorary president. It is our long-standing custom to invite the U.S. President to the National Jamboree."

That statement is a beginning. The world eagerly awaits hearing Boy Scouts of America deliver a more vigorous, value-driven response to Trump's outrageous speech.

Update: See additional Boy Scouts of America response. 

Update 8/2/2017: Did Trump receive a congratulatory phone call from a BSA leader? Fake news? Fake phone calls?   

Update 8/2/2017 WH spokesperson admits Trump did not get a congratulatory phone call from BSA as he claimed, says "I wouldn't say it was a lie."  Was it just an "alternative fact?"