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Trump Gave A Rambling Speech To The Boy Scouts & A Thousand Memes Were Born

by Jenny Hollander
Pool/Getty Images News/Getty Images

At the Boy Scouts Jamboree on Monday night, President Trump took the stage to deliver a rambling half-hour speech to thousands of assembled Boy Scouts. Intended to be a speech about honor and morality, the address was a mishmash of gratuitous stories, boasting, and criticism of Washington, Obama, Hillary Clinton, and "fake news." Thus, a million memes about Trump's Boy Scouts speech were born.

The irony is glaring: Trump was intended to give an inspiring and nonpartisan speech about honor and valor to a group of young and impressionable Americans. (Of course, the Boy Scouts has held tight to its notorious anti-gay and anti-trans stances in the past, so you could argue that the organization is partisan by nature.) Instead, Trump delivered a monologue that contradicted the organization's values of honesty, loyalty, and honor. He not only openly mocked Congress — and, at times, members of his own administration — but previous presidents and presidential candidates, like Obama and Clinton. He recounted in joyous detail his crushing election victory of November 9, thanked the Scouts for voting for him (since they are children, they did not), and gleefully took jabs at anybody and everybody who had ever doubted him.

On Tuesday morning, the Boy Scouts released a statement:

The Boy Scouts of America is wholly non-partisan and does not promote anyone 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.

The damage was done. Memes and jokes aplenty were already making the rounds. Such as...

A New Patch!

A Dangerous Altitude

Obama's Photographer Jumped In

Remember The Scouts' Journalism Badge?

About All That Cheering...

A New Badge Suggestion

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Yet Another Badge Suggestion

An Ugly Throwback

Parents Weren't Happy, Either

Ouch.