As Trump addresses Boy Scouts, Philly-area parents bristle

On Monday night, Justine Moore logged onto Facebook and watched clips from the Boy Scouts' National Jamboree with growing unease. The Norristown scoutmaster had sent two scouts – her 14-year-old son and a friend – to the West Virginia campground where President Trump was addressing a gathering of 40,000.

As Trump boasted of his electoral victory and the crowd booed Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama, Moore stopped watching. "I was disgusted," she said. "That's not what scouting is supposed to be – it's not supposed to be politically affiliated at all."

Moore wasn't alone. On Monday night, the Boy Scouts of America was denounced on social media for hosting a speech in which Trump pushed the Republican healthcare plan, told a long story about a party in New York with "the hottest people there," and decried the media – in short, an address straight out of a Trump rally. Progressive parents and former scouts bristled.

"I was rage-tweeting the whole time," said Christine, a South Jersey mother whose 16-year-old son is four merit badges and a service project away from an Eagle Scout ceremony, and who asked that her last name be withheld because she didn't want to hurt her son's chances at the honor. "If he'd stayed to the scripted parts, it might have been a typical 'Yay Scouts' type of speech," she said. "But Trump's gotta Trump."

Her son has been at the Jamboree all week, she said, where he spotted more than a few "Make America Great Again" hats, and had been alarmed to hear scattered "Build the Wall" chants during the president's speech. She was disappointed in the BSA for issuing a statement that explained the speech is a long-standing tradition and is in no way an endorsement of any political party or specific policies," but did not explicitly condemn Trump's tone.

"My kid has been having a great time down here, the whole week," she said. "I'm hoping that doesn't ruin it."

Presidents are always invited to attend the Jamboree, held every four years, but their speeches typically focus on the merits of scouting. In his remarks, Trump gleefully pointed out that Obama never attended a Jamboree, but the former president did speak to scouts from time to time.

"Scouting teaches us to be responsible members of society – that you should vote, that it's your right and your duty to participate in the world around you," said A.J. Garrigus, a former scout from Lansdale who served as a troop leader for several years. "Obama's speeches to the scouts focused on elements like that."

He said he was concerned to hear the crowd's cheers during the speech's more political moments. "It actually evoked a similar feeling from last year, watching the rallies and the votes for Trump coming in – like, I knew this was a thing, that there are a lot of very pro-Trump and very conservative people out there," he said, "and it was still kind of shocking to see just how many of them there are."

Moore has run her sons' Norristown troop for the last five years – a racially and socioeconomically diverse group of kids not yet reflected in the overall makeup of the larger organization, she said.

She's taught them about the importance of respect, but also about the efficacy of civil disobedience. Her scouts tried to skip the speech, but weren't allowed, she said. "As long as you are being civil, you are allowed to disagree," she said she told her son. The group of scouts he was sitting with mostly scoffed at the address, she said.

Still, in Facebook groups where parents and scoutmasters gather to post pictures from the Jamboree, some parents said they were tired of the political debates. "My three boys were proud and impressed by the president," a woman from Brick, N.J. wrote. "They listened intently and politely, and will look back on this experience of seeing a sitting president as a once-in-a-lifetime experience."