July 25, 2017

Trump Gave a Horrifying, Politicized Speech at the Boy Scouts Jamboree. Read Why This Matters.

“It’s the worst kind of desecration.”

President Donald Trump is being roundly criticized for indulging in a hyper-political message at the Boy Scouts Jamboree on Monday, a celebration that has historically been used to discuss the virtues of the organization. The president used the event to attack his opponents, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the “fake media.” The rambling speech even included threats to Republican senators who may vote against the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

At one point, he appeared to issue a warning to Health Secretary Tom Price, saying he “better get” the votes for passage or else he would be fired. 

The Boy Scouts organization immediately attempted to distance itself from Trump’s speech saying the group did not promote any political position. And many watching from afar jumped onto social media voicing more intense criticism. Mother Jones contributing writer Ted Genoways was an Eagle Scout and is from generations of Boy Scouts. Read his thoughts on Trump’s remarks below:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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