--- title: National Jamboree: Boy Scouts Head Apologizes for Trump description: The Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America apologized to anyone in the scouting community offended by President Trump's speech. canonical: https://time.com/4876705/donald-trump-boy-scout-jamboree-speech/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-27T17:05:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:25:48.060Z article:section: Politics og:title: Boy Scouts Leader Apolgizes for President Trump's Speech og:description: "My sincere apologies to those ... who were offended by the political rhetoric" og:url: https://time.com/4876705/donald-trump-boy-scout-jamboree-speech/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43ca5f607d292fc6/6988d77297cdff9c3b6b1c6b/gettyimages-8218106881.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3149 og:image:height: 1771 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Boy Scouts og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Boy Scouts Leader Apolgizes for President Trump's Speech twitter:description: "My sincere apologies to those ... who were offended by the political rhetoric" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43ca5f607d292fc6/6988d77297cdff9c3b6b1c6b/gettyimages-8218106881.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Head of the Boy Scouts Just Apologized After Trump's National Jamboree Speech > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=0587327f-1e19-4bb8-91ec-1d599833bdc6&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Brags About His Election Victory During Boy Scout Jamboree Speech [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Brags About His Election Victory During Boy Scout Jamboree Speech](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jgJePnRt.m3u8) (1:30)  _Published 2017-07-25. President Donald Trump spoke Monday night at the 2017 Boy Scout Jamboree, where he bragged about his victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign and bashed the media._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 27, 2017 5:05 PM UTC  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Jul 27, 2017 5:05 PM UTC The Chief Scout Executive for the Boy Scouts of America apologized Thursday to anyone in the scouting community who may have been offended or alarmed by [President Donald Trump’s speech](http://time.com/4871947/donald-trump-boy-scout-jamboree/) at the organization’s National Jamboree earlier this week. “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,” Michael Surbaugh [wrote in a statement](http://scoutingwire.org/chief-perspective-presidential-visit/). “For years, people have called upon us to take a position on political issues, and we have steadfastly remained non-partisan and refused to comment on political matters. We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program.” **Read more:** [3 controversial things Donald Trump told the Boy Scouts National Jamboree ](http://time.com/4872572/donald-trump-president-boy-scout-national-jamboree/) During Trump’s speech, the President invoked his election victory, slamming both his onetime opponent [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/4869627/donald-trump-jr-hillary-clinton-emails/) and his predecessor, [former President Barack Obama,](http://time.com/4872425/boy-scouts-america-jamboree-donald-trump-barack-obama/) eliciting a series of boos from the crowd. He also derided what he called the “fake news” media. Read Surbaugh’s statement in full below: --- > “” --- ## Transcript Secretary Tom Price is also here. Today Dr. Price still lives [ UNKNOWN ] helping to keep millions of Americans strong and healthy as our Secretary of Health and Human Services and he's doing a great job. And hopefully, he's going to get the votes tomorrow to start our path Toward killing this horrible thing known as Obama Care that's really hurting us. [ APPLAUSE ] By the way, you're gonna get the votes? They better get them, they better get them. I bet, otherwise I'll say Tom, you're fired. I'll get somebody. [ APPLAUSE ] [ SOUND ] The scouts believe in putting America first. [ APPLAUSE ] You know I go to Washington and I see all these politicians, and I see the swamp And it's not a good place. In fact today I said we ought to change it from the word swamp to the word cess pool or perhaps to the word sewer, but it's not good. Boys scout values are American values, and great boys scouts become great, great, Americans. As the Scout Law says, a scout is trustworthy, loyal. We could use some more loyalty I will tell you that. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4876705/donald-trump-boy-scout-jamboree-speech/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4876705/donald-trump-boy-scout-jamboree-speech/"},"headline":"The Head of the Boy Scouts Just Apologized After Trump's National Jamboree Speech","datePublished":"2017-07-27T17:05:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-08T09:25:48.060Z","description":"\"My sincere apologies to those ... who were offended by the political rhetoric\"","url":"https://time.com/4876705/donald-trump-boy-scout-jamboree-speech/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43ca5f607d292fc6/6988d77297cdff9c3b6b1c6b/gettyimages-8218106881.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43ca5f607d292fc6/6988d77297cdff9c3b6b1c6b/gettyimages-8218106881.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Boy Scouts","caption":"Donald Trump Boy Scouts","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4876705/donald-trump-boy-scout-jamboree-speech/","name":"The Head of the Boy Scouts Just Apologized After Trump's National Jamboree Speech"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Brags About His Election Victory During Boy Scout Jamboree Speech","description":"President Donald Trump spoke Monday night at the 2017 Boy Scout Jamboree, where he bragged about his victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 campaign and bashed the media.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/jgJePnRt/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-07-25T03:14:14.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jgJePnRt.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4876705/donald-trump-boy-scout-jamboree-speech/","duration":"PT1M30S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4876705/donald-trump-boy-scout-jamboree-speech/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```