Last edited Tue Jul 25, 2017, 01:09 PM - Edit history (1)
A forerunner of the group was formed in 1922, soon after Hitler had become the leader of the Nazi Party. Once Hitler became Chancellor in 1933, all other youth groups were abolished.
One reason the Hitler Youth so easily came into existence stems from the fact that numerous youth movements existed across Germany prior to and especially after World War I. These youth organisations were created for varying purposes; some were religious in disposition and others were ideological, but the more important among them were those formed for political reasons, like the "Young Conservatives" or the "Young Protestants". Once Hitler came onto the revolutionary scene, the transition from seemingly innocuous youth movements to political entities focused on Hitler was swift.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Youth
Following this model, for the Boy Scouts to become or be taken over by the Trumpenjugend or something like it, the GOP would have to create its own youth organization (the Young Republicans already exists, but it's for college students); then Trump would have to become so powerful that the GOP could get away with abolishing all other youth groups so the Trumpenjugend would be the only one. Since Trump's actual popularity nationwide is hovering around 36%, this is not likely to happen. And even a very conservative Supreme Court would not disregard the First Amendment's right of free association to permit the abolition of all other youth groups. So I don't foresee anything that extreme happening.
Still, I hope there is a huge backlash against the BSA to the extent they seem to condone Trump's disgusting speech.