Trump to Boy Scouts: Become Hitler ... er, Trump Youth!

July 26, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Hitler youth. Photo by Heinrich Hoffmann, 1939

An Uproar Among Scouts… and the Potential for Driving Out This Fascist Regime

After Trump’s speech, “a groundswell of parents and former Boy Scouts called out the organization for the content of Trump’s speech, flooding its Facebook page with hundreds of comments, with some demanding an apology or threatening to leave the organization,” the Washington Post reported.

One parent called Trump’s speech a ”deeply offensive disaster which must be repudiated by the BSA.” Another demanded the Scouts condemn Trump’s message—“totally unacceptable!”

On social media, many called Trump’s speech Hitlerian: “Sounds like someone from Germany circa 1938-39 giving youth speeches!” and “Hitler Youth grps started in the early 1920’s, grew to 100,000 by 1933. How did that start .... JUST LIKE THIS.” Newsweek’s July 24 headline: “Trump Boy Scout Speech Is Nazi Hitler Youth Rally, Left Says.”

That this kind of outrage erupted from within the Boy Scout community (and beyond) points to the deep reservoir of potential opposition to Trump and his regime. This potential must urgently be organized into a movement to actually drive the Trump/Pence fascist regime from power.

On Monday night Donald Trump spoke to some 40,000 gathered at the 2017 Boy Scouts of America National Scout Jamboree in Glen Jean, West Virginia. He didn’t bother with the tradition of a non-partisan sticking to “Scouting values,” hard work, community service and the like. No, he issued a full-throated recruiting call for the crowd of largely 12- to 18-year olds to become Hitler, er, Trump youth.

Who did Trump put forward as a role model for these impressionable youth? The open segregationist William Levitt! In a lengthy ode, Trump called him “an unbelievable success,” someone who made a “tremendous amount of money,” and had a “very interesting life.” Levitt’s claim to infamy was building Levittown in 1947, a housing development on Long Island and model of post-World War 2 expansion of suburbanization and homeownership—for white people! Levitt’s homes could not be “used or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race,’’ his contracts stated. Even after courts struck this naked racism down and the civil rights movement emerged, Levitt continued to fight for segregation. In 1990, Levittown remained over 97 percent white!

Trump used the Scout oath “to do your best and to do your duty to God and your country,” as he put it, as a call for tearing down the separation of church and state and imposing Christian theocratic fundamentalism throughout society: “under the Trump administration, you’ll be saying ‘Merry Christmas’ again when you go shopping, believe me,” repeating Christian Fascist propaganda that Christians are being suppressed: “They’ve been downplaying that little beautiful phrase… But the words ‘duty,’ ‘country’ and ‘God’ are beautiful words… you’re pledging to be a great American patriot.”

Trump repeatedly attacked the bourgeois media: “The fake media will say, ‘President Trump spoke’—you know what is—‘President Trump spoke before a small crowd of Boy Scouts today.’ That’s some—that is some crowd. Fake media. Fake news.” He was training the Scouts to disbelieve and reject any source contradicting his ideological indoctrination, and to rely on him and him alone, as the only voice of truth.

Trump called the Boy Scouts “very special people. You’re special in the lives of America. You’re special to me.” He hailed them as “people of character” who “uphold the sacred values of our nation” and put “America first.” Trump’s invocation of Scouts as special—the “real Americans”—carried with it the message that others, those who fall outside this special circle, don’t deserve to have their interests and humanity respected.

As for enemies, Trump railed against his establishment opponents, and called on the Scouts to come to his aid. Washington wasn’t just a swamp, it should be called a “cesspool” or “sewer.” He went on, “Scout law says, a Scout is trustworthy, loyal—we could use some more loyalty. I will tell that you that.” This was a recruiting call for fascist youth stormtroopers!

This didn’t just harken back to the days of Hitler, it was an actual parallel to the organizing of the Hitler Youth. This paramilitary arm of the Nazi Party became the sole and official organization for youth 14-18. Membership, which grew to eight million by 1940, was mandatory for “Aryan” youth (with a separate young women’s organization—the “League of German Girls”). The Hitler Youth were mobilized to violently crush dissent and opposition to the Nazis, on the streets and in the schools. Political opponents, Jews, non-conformists, and others were beaten; members spied on school and church classrooms, and a social atmosphere of conformity, intimidation and terror was fostered. The Hitler Youth emphasized physical fitness and military training—preparing young Germans for war.

Trump’s speech generated an outpouring of protest from within the Boy Scout community (see sidebar). One parent wrote, “What I was angry about was that this president took it as an opportunity to criticize others, demean others and not really speak to the concerns of 12- to 17-year-old kids who are looking for direction in life.”

Trump called Scouting a life-changing/shaping experience, and he was aiming to give these and millions of other youth a “direction in life”—a fascist direction, enlisting them in carrying out towering crimes against humanity. This must be stopped before it happens!

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