Scouting America should dump Trump, not the other way around | Opinion
The Scout Law begins, “A Scout is trustworthy.” You only have to go four words in to see how the Trump administration might come into conflict with an organization that expects its young charges to be “Trustworthy. Loyal. Helpful. Friendly. Courteous. Kind. Obedient. Cheerful. Thrifty. Brave. Clean. And reverent.” Scouting America represents everything Trump is not.
Well, maybe he has friendly and cheerful down some of the time. And I have never heard about Trump having dirt under his fingernails.
In any case, it isn’t a shock that Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon is considering severing the ties between the military and one of the most important youth organizations in the nation in preparing young people to serve their country, according to a report by National Public Radio.
In the local Heart of America Council, covering eastern Kansas and western Missouri, 7,500 volunteers supported 17,000 area youth in more than 600 packs and troops in 2024. Together they camped 101,167 nights at the Roe Bartle and Theodore Naish Scout Reservations. Those scouts gave back to their communities 111,000 hours of service.
The draft memo prepared to be sent to Congress to justify the decision, ends military support for the Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, bans Scout meetings from military installations and ends the practice of giving scouts with the groups highest award more advanced rank and pay when enlisted in the military.
Over the years since before World War II, when the relationship between the military and Scouts was formalized, the organization has provided millions of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to the U.S. military. We couldn’t have won World War II and the Cold War without the leadership and sacrifice of scouts. Even today, as many as 20% of the students at U.S. service academies are Eagle Scouts.
My father was an Eagle Scout and he raised me to be an Eagle Scout. My son and my daughter are Cub Scouts. I hope they will become Eagle Scouts. Then called Boy Scouts, scouting set me on the right path for my whole life and I hope it will guide my children as well.
Hegseth’s memo alleges that Scouts have lost their way, that they are not a meritocracy, that they don’t support boys and that they’ve given in to demon DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion. I guess by that he means the fact that we let in girls.
I wasn’t happy with that either, but after a couple of years with my kids’ newly diverse Cub Scout pack, I haven’t seen much change. My boy is fully supported, my daughter, too. Scouting is still the same godly, patriotic and service-oriented group that it always has been. There’s just a little higher register when the kids recite that Scout Law that Trump so thoroughly fails to meet. Some of the kids need a little more privacy on camp outs.
When I listen to the young scouts recite the Pledge of Allegiance at every pack meeting, I put my hand over my heart and say it with them. Thinking about the Trump administration, I stumble over the “one nation under God. Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All,” part.
Every day it seems Trump exploits our divisions. Liberties like free speech, even for senators, becomes ever more in doubt and Justice for All becomes more joke than patriotic rhetorical flourish.
Of course the Trump administration is severing ties with Scouting America — even Trump’s role as the honorary leader of Scouting America — and the young people it serves. It can’t happen soon enough. If Trump’s influence seeps in, who knows what damage it could cause.
David Mastio is a national columnist for The Kansas City Star and McClatchy.
