The Chief Scout Executive for Boy Scouts of America has apologized for President Trump’s politically-tinged speech made during the Scouts’ 20th annual National Jamboree on Tuesday.
Though Trump opened his speech with, “Who the hell wants to speak about politics when I’m in front of the Boy Scouts?” he then talked a lot about politics, including dissing Obama (“Did President Obama ever come to a Jamboree?”), bragging about his presidential victory (“Do you remember that incredible night … and that map was so red, it was unbelievable …”), and references to “the swamp.”
According to Time, may people — including former Scouts — found Trump’s speech “shocking,” “nauseating” and “downright icky.”
Chief Michael Surbaugh penned an open letter to Scouting Wire Thursday in which he wrote, “[We] know the past few days have been overshadowed by the remarks offered by the President of the United States. 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.”
Surbaugh said that Trump’s invitation to speak at the event was in no way an endorsement of his policies, and that previous presidents have been invited to speak since the 1930s.
“The invitation for the sitting U.S. President to visit the National Jamboree is a long-standing tradition that has been extended to the leader of our nation that has had a Jamboree during his term since 1937,” he explained.
Surbaugh closed the letter with an optimistic statement: “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 — in fact, they make up the Scout Oath and Scout Law.”
And finally, “In a time when differences seem to separate our country, we hope the true spirit of Scouting will empower our next generation of leaders to bring people together to do good in the world.”
Surbaugh’s apology letter comes three days after Trump delivered his speech at the National Jamboree.
22 'Rediculous' Typos From Trump's White House, From 'Attaker' to 'Unpresidented' (Photos)
You can't have "the best words" if you can't correctly spell them. Even more serious than the Trump administration's beef with CNN is its beef with grammar, as is evidenced by a score of tweets and official White House documents that are riddled with spelling errors, misused words and downright gibberish. Here are 21 of the worst (and most laughable) offenses.
"Innaccurately"
Oh, the irony! The White House tried to call out the Congressional Budget Office for inaccuracy but inaccurately spelled the word "innaccurately."
White House/Twitter
"Honered"
Before "covfefe," there was "honered." Of course, newly-inaugurated Trump meant to tweet that he was "honored," but that's not what happened.
Twitter
"Unpresidented"
According to Huffington Post, Trump Twitter-slammed China for seizing a U.S. underwater drone in December 2016. He also made up a word in the process. By “unpresidented,” we can assume he meant “unprecedented.”
Twitter
"San Bernadino"
The White House got a few things wrong with this list of “unreported” terror attacks. First, many of the incidents actually had been reported. Second, “San Bernardino” was spelled incorrectly.
White House/Twitter
"Attaker"
In the same report, the WH managed to misspell “attacker” 23 times in a row. That has to be some sort of record.
White House/Twitter
"W.E.B. DeBois"
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) botched the name of legendary civil rights activist, W.E.B. DuBois. It’s DU Bois, as in “DU” they realize the epic mistake they made?
Twitter
"Deepest apologizes"
Apparently, the DOE did catch the gaffe and subsequently tweeted out an apology… sort of.
Twitter/The Washington Post
"Columbia"
This is a common spelling error that also tripped up Steve Harvey in the past. For the record, when referring to the country, the correct spelling is "Colombia."
White House/Twitter
“Possibility of lasting peach”
According to a White House press release, one of Trump’s objectives during his most recent visit to Israel was to “promote the possibility of lasting peach” between Israelis and Palestinians. Who needs peace when you can have peaches?
White House/Twitter
“Couple with changes”
Another typo from the same press release. This time, someone left off the “d” in the word “coupled.” Hence, we have “A new approach, couple with changes.”
White House/Twitter
"Councel"
After Trump tweeted this misspelling on May 18, Merriam-Webster reported that "councel" was their most-searched word of that day.
Twitter/The Hill
"Tapp"
President Obama did not "tapp" Trump's phone at any time during his two terms in office, because there is no such word as "tapp" in the English language.
Twitter
Too vs. To
This was not a tweet. This was Donald Trump's official inauguration portrait... with an egregious typo printed front and center.
Library of Congress
"Teresa May"
This mistake doesn’t seem too critical… until you consider the fact that Teresa (sans “h”) May is the name of a British porn star, not the British Prime Minister. The latter spells her first name with an "h."
White House/Huffington Post
"Hear by"
He should have typed "hereby." Of course, POTUS received a lot of flack for this one, among his many other botched spellings.
Twitter/Pro Publica
"Educatuon"
Failure took the form of a White House Snapchat on April 17. There's no excuse for this one.
White House/Snap
"Thr" and "Gas"
Trump displayed poor spelling in his attempt to shade two credible news outlets via Twitter.
Twitter
"Amoung"
"Amoung," many other things, he will also not use spellcheck.
Twitter
"Predisent"
This was a statement made by Trump's lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, in an official White House document.
White House/Twitter
"Rediculous"
Once again, Trump unleashes a grammatically incorrect Twitter rage at his arch nemesis, CNN.
As Merriam-Webster so nicely put it, "heal (to become healthy again) heel (a contemptible person)."
Twitter
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Welcome to the White House: where the words are made up, and spellcheck doesn’t matter
You can't have "the best words" if you can't correctly spell them. Even more serious than the Trump administration's beef with CNN is its beef with grammar, as is evidenced by a score of tweets and official White House documents that are riddled with spelling errors, misused words and downright gibberish. Here are 21 of the worst (and most laughable) offenses.