Jul 24, 2017

What Trump told the Boy Scouts

Shannon Vavra

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

President Trump addressed the National Jamboree of the Boy Scouts of America on Monday, riling up the big crowd with attacks on the media and boasts about his election victory.

He noted that 10 of his cabinet members were scouts, and three of them — Energy Sec. Rick Perry, Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke and Health and Human Services Sec. Tom Price — joined him on stage. At one point Trump joked that Price "better get" the votes needed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, "otherwise I'll say, 'Tom, you're fired.'"

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who Trump publicly criticized Monday and has discussed replacing, is an Eagle Scout but was not in attendance.

Highlights from the speech:

  • "Loyalty, we could use some more loyalty I'll tell you that."
  • "You'll be saying 'Merry Christmas' again when you go shopping."
  • He said he was keeping his promises on energy, the economy, and rebuilding the military.
  • On election night: "That incredible night with the maps…that map was so red it was unbelievable."
  • Advice for the scouts: Love your job. "When you do something you love like I do... you're not really working... you don't really think of it as work."
  • Trump spoke about the importance of not losing momentum and never quitting. To illustrate that point, he spent several minutes speaking about William Levitt, a real estate developer who was once one of the richest men in America but saw his wealth slip away by the time Trump met him at an exclusive New York cocktail party.
"Did President Obama ever come to a jamboree?"

Go deeper

Ina Fried

Pandemic forces startups to shift gears

Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios

Spaces CEO Brad Herman had an early warning about COVID-19 because his startup supplies VR attractions to a number of theme parks in China. Realizing that the business he spent the last few years building was going to evaporate, Herman quickly found a new way to apply his team's know-how: helping companies host Zoom teleconferences in VR.

Why it matters: Many startups are rethinking the viability of their core businesses in the wake of the coronavirus. Spaces' move is one of many such pivots likely to crop up in the coming months.

Go deeperArrow12 mins ago - Technology
Eileen Drage O'Reilly

International coronavirus treatment trial uses AI to speed results

Hydroxychloroquine is one of the drugs that will be included in the trial. Photo: John Philips/Getty Images

The first hospital network in the U.S. has joined an international clinical trial using artificial intelligence to help determine which treatments for patients with the novel coronavirus are most effective on an on-going basis.

Why it matters: In the midst of a pandemic, scientists face dueling needs: to find treatments quickly and to ensure they are safe and effective. By using this new type of adaptive platform, doctors hope to collect clinical data that will help more quickly determine what actually works.

Go deeperArrow27 mins ago - Health
Sam Baker

We can't just flip the switch on the coronavirus

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

It feels like some big, terrible switch got flipped when the coronavirus upended our lives — so it’s natural to want to simply flip it back. But that is not how the return to normalcy will go.

The big picture: Even as the number of illnesses and deaths in the U.S. start to fall, and we start to think about leaving the house again, the way forward will likely be slow and uneven. This may feel like it all happened suddenly, but it won't end that way.

Go deeperArrow42 mins ago - Health