I suppose there’s a scenario here in which it’s the Scouts, not the president, who are lying, having phoned Trump to thank him for speaking at the Jamboree but wanting to keep that fact a secret given the backlash his speech caused among some. But c’mon. They’re Boy Scouts. “Trustworthy” is part of the package.
The president of the United States is in a dispute over the truth with the Boy Scouts of farking America. Man. Trump, July 25th:
WSJ: You got a good reaction inside the arena, that’s right.
TRUMP: … from the time I walked out on the stage — because I know. And by the way, I’d be the first to admit mixed. I’m a guy that will tell you mixed. There was no mix there. That was a standing ovation from the time I walked out to the time I left, and for five minutes after I had already gone. There was no mix.
WSJ: Yeah, there was a lot of supporters in the arena.
TRUMP: And I got a call from the head of the Boy Scouts saying it was the greatest speech that was ever made to them, and they were very thankful. So there was — there was no mix.
On Wednesday, the Scouts responded, “We are unaware of any such call.” Neither of the organization’s two top leaders — President Randall Stephenson and Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh — had placed such a call, the Scouts said.
Surbaugh apologized last week to members of the scouting community who were offended by the political rhetoric in Trump’s July 24 speech in West Virginia.
The BSA could have just no-commented reporters who called to check on whether what Trump said was true, but no, they’re telling everyone who asks that there was no call:
Trump lied about the BOY SCOUTS. A senior Scouts source says there was no call at all, let alone a call telling him his speech was the best.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 1, 2017
NEW: Boy Scouts just told me in e-mail if a call was placed to President Trump after his speech, the organization is unaware of it.
— Alana Abramson (@aabramson) August 1, 2017
If Mooch were still on the job, he’d be on the phone right now sand-blasting the head of the group with F-bombs about his disloyalty and warning him to “jog his memory” about the call if he wants the next four years to be easy. As it is, if Trump wants some pushback here, he’s going to have to do it himself, which means flaming the Boy Scouts on Twitter tomorrow morning. And, let’s face it, he probably will.
And it’ll be amazing.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the press today that Trump meant to say the BSA leaders told him his speech was amazing in person, not over the phone. Watch below for a surprisingly serious question from Kirsten Powers: Did Trump lie deliberately, or did he … convince himself somehow that this call happened? You could say, “Who cares? It’s a trivial matter.” And that’s true. But it’s because it’s so trivial that it’s noteworthy, not unlike “>the John Barron saga. Politicians tell big lies all the time to advance their agendas but what’s the point of a petty self-aggrandizing lie which you know will be exposed and which stands to embarrass you needlessly? It’s weird.
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