Trump slams GOP senators, ‘dishonest’ press, Obama and Clinton in a rambling speech to national Boy Scouts Jamboree

President Trump took jabs at Republican senators, “dishonest” reporters, his predecessor and his 2016 election rival in a rambling and surprisingly partisan speech before about 30,000 Boy Scouts and their troop leaders Monday evening in West Virginia. 

In one aside during remarks to the National Scout Jamboree in Glen Jean, W.V., the president asked, “Who the hell wants to speak about politics when I’m in front of the Boy Scouts?” Yet he launched into an extended a critique of Washington politics.

That included jibes at senators in his own party — including by name the home state senator, Shelley Moore Capito — who have balked at ending the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with a still uncertain plan that would cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid.

“I go to Washington and I see all these politicians, and I see the swamp. In fact it’s not a good place – we should change it from the swamp to the cesspool or perhaps use the word sewer,” he said.

Trump introduced several of his Cabinet members who had been Boy Scouts, including Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, there in Scout uniform; Energy Secretary Rick Perry’ and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.

Price, the president said, “is going to start our path toward killing this horrible thing known as Obamacare that’s really hurting us.”

 ”You going to get the votes?” Trump asked Price. “He better get them,” Trump told the enthusiastic youths. “Otherwise, I’m going to say, ‘Tom, you’re fired!’” 

He added, ”You’d better get Sen. Capito to vote for it.”

The Trump administration and Republican Senate leaders are pressing party colleagues to vote on Tuesday to allow debate on the House-passed healthcare measure so that they can then amend it with a different Senate version. They need at least 50 of the 52 Republican senators to consider the bill, a hurdle made more difficult with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.

Trump praised the Scouts for their pledges to be trustworthy and loyal, and encouraged them to “never quit” and to “do something you love.” But repeatedly he went off script to make political points.

“We could use some more loyalty, I could tell you that,” Trump said of Republicans in Congress. Within the first minute he attacked the press — “fake news” — twice and came back to the subject of “these dishonest people” later.

Of his predecessor, Trump interjected, “By the way, did President Obama ever come to a jamboree? The answer’s no.” When he vowed to kill Obamacare, the crowd chanted, “USA! USA!”

Trump criticized Democratic election opponent Hillary Clinton and recalled at length the surprise of his victory on Nov. 8, boasting of how red he’d made the TV networks’ maps of the states.

In one extended tangent that surely confused many Scouts, Trump described a long-ago cocktail party conversation with pioneering real estate developer William Levitt. Levitt was “a very successful man,” Trump told the Scouts, but sold his business and ”lost his momentum.” Although Levitt is considered the architect of postwar American suburbia, he was also known for ensuring that properties were sold only to whites and non-Jews.

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Kyrie Irving reportedly thinks LeBron James leaked his trade request. Is this true?

Kyrie Irving requested a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers nearly two weeks ago, going to management about no longer wanting to play alongside LeBron James.

Irving’s trade request became public knowledge, however, on Friday. And ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith cited sources close to Irving’s camp who believe LeBron himself leaked his teammate’s trade request to the media.

According to my sources, they believe LeBron James had everything to do with news getting out that Kyrie Irving wants to be traded, because Kyrie Irving and his representation and others met with the Cavaliers a couple weeks ago, and not a word got out until recently. They believe that LeBron James got word of it and was put off by it and leaked it. I’m not going to accuse LeBron of such a thing. I don’t know that to be true at all. But I know that’s what Kyrie Irving believes.

Life comes at you fast.

After making three consecutive NBA Finals appearances including Cleveland’s lone championship in 2016, the Cavaliers are on the brink of losing their bonafide second option because … well, he doesn’t want to be a second option anymore.

Cleveland, in all likelihood, won’t see Irving on its roster to start the season. That’s a far fall from grace for a team that was a roster move or two away from competing against the Warriors once again for another shot at an NBA championship.

How did we get here?

On July 7, while LeBron James was enjoying his vacation in Mexico, Kyrie Irving met with Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. He requested to be traded because he didn’t want to be second fiddle to James any longer.

Via ESPN:

Irving was tired of being Robin to James’ Batman. Tired of having another superstar — even one of the best players of all time — in control of his fate. Yes, he had learned from James in the three seasons they’d played together. Yes, he was appreciative. But Irving felt the time had come to take his destiny into his own hands. He wanted to be the centerpiece of a team, as he thought he was going to be three years ago, when he signed a five-year extension 11 days before James decided to come home.

The news reportedly blindsided and disappointed James, who was gearing up to make a fourth straight NBA Finals run and take on a goliath Warriors team that dispatched the Cavs in five games in June.

Irving’s trade request was kept under wraps for exactly two weeks, though. Then, in a story that literally broke the Internet, Brian Windhorst reported on July 21 that Irving went to ownership and requested to be traded.

With his client in Taiwan on tour promoting sneakers, Irving’s agent Jeff Wechsler entered damage control mode. The news didn’t come from his end; that’s not the way he operates.

Just spoke with Kyrie Irving’s agent, Jeff Wechsler: “what I can tell you is we had a meeting a couple of weeks ago, and we sat down (1/2)

— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 21, 2017

discussed Kyrie’s future w/the team all the scenarios. The contents of that meeting we’re going to keep between the team and us.” (2/2)

— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 21, 2017

But as intricate details of the conversation surfaced — Irving’s preferred destinations and the nuances of his reasoning for wanting out — it became clear someone on the inside wanted this information to be public.

Does it make sense for LeBron to have leaked the news?

On its surface, maybe. After all, it wasn’t vaunted news-breaker Adrian Wojnarowski who got the scoop. It was Windhorst, a guy who’s covered LeBron his entire career, who’s from the same town and went to the same high school in Akron, Ohio.

Irving was potentially only a few days away from a smooth-sailing exodus from Cleveland. That all went out the window while he was on the other side of the planet. Leaking the news could also potentially hurt Irving’s trade value, as now it’s widely known he doesn’t want to be in Cleveland anymore.

The truth in the matter, though, is that this is all speculation and mere conjecture. We’ll never know if LeBron leaked Irving’s trade request or if the news came from elsewhere.

The only thing we know for sure is that Kyrie Irving wants out. And as a result, things in Cleveland will never be the same when the trade becomes official.

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