Trump gets do-over with youth after panned Boy Scouts speech

WASHINGTON - Two days after a controversial speech to a group of Boy Scouts, President Donald Trump took a more traditional, inspirational tone Wednesday to another group of young people.

“I see the next generation of American leaders,” Trump said in Rose Garden remarks to the American Legion Boys Nation and the American Legion Auxiliary Girls Nation.

Still, Trump being Trump, he did inject a little bit of politics — namely, about his election win last year.

“Just think of the amazing moments in history you will witness in your lifetime,” he told the youngsters. “You saw one on November 8, right?”

Trump drew criticism from many parents, and current and former scouts, for a Monday speech to Boy Scouts that at times sounded more like a political pep rally. Trump mixed life lessons, demanded a repeal of Obamacare and attacked predecessor Barack Obama for never having attended the jamboree.

Boy Scouts said it anticipated Trump would spark controversy with a politically tinged speech at its national jamboree in West Virginia but felt obliged to invite him out of respect for his office.

Scouts president Randall Stephenson told The Associated Press in his first public comments on the furor over Trump’s speech he’d be “disingenuous” if he suggested he was surprised by the president’s comments. Stephenson also is chief executive officer of Dallas-based AT&T.

Other U.S. presidents have addressed Boy Scouts jamborees with speeches steering clear of partisan politics.

Yet in the Rose Garden Wednesday, Trump pretty much stuck to the script for presidents addressing young people, telling the Boys and Girls Nation delegates: “Never quit. Never give up. Take care of your family and your parents.”