If you're from below the Mason-Dixon Line you probably knew it as the War Between the Scouts
If you're from below the Mason-Dixon Line you probably knew it as the War Between the Scouts
The moment when it really started to feel insane: An oral history of the Scaramucci Era
By Monica Hesse, Ben Terris and Dan Zak August 1 at 3:16 PM
Historical eras are usually defined retrospectively: wait 10 years, analyze the major players in a big event, figure out what it all meant. But who has the patience for that now, when every week feels like a year and Monday is a blur by Friday?
Last week, July 24 to 28, was a news and spectacle avalanche. The White House press secretary had just resigned. It was Communications Director Anthony Scaramuccis first day. The president was at Twitter-war with his own attorney general. Along with Jared Kushners closed-door testimony, and a bizarro Boy Scout Jamboree, and pants-wetting news from North Korea, and the dramatic return of a cancer-stricken John McCain, and, and, and.
So we tried to wrap our arms around each bonkers news cycle and re-create for posterity what it was like to be alive for just one week in 2017. ... Presenting: An oral history of the Era of the Mooch condensed and edited for clarity as told by senators, Boy Scouts, soldiers, journalists, parents, talking heads, Wall Street traders and the CEO of an arcade-game company in Florida.
MONDAY, JULY 24
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{David Bender, 15, scout from Indiana}: There were disagreements all over camp. Some people saying F Trump, some people saying MAGA. I heard there was a troop from New York that had a troop from Texas right next to them and the leaders had to keep them separate.
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Epilogue. On Friday afternoon, one week after Spicer resigned and the Scaramucci Era began, the Russians announced they would seize U.S. diplomatic properties and force out hundreds of U.S. diplomatic staffers, the North Koreans proved with a missile test that they can target the continental United States with a nuclear weapon, Scaramuccis wife filed for divorce, President Trump essentially endorsed police brutality during a speech in Long Island (the White House said he was joking), and then Trump fired Priebus and replaced him with the Army general in charge of the Department of Homeland Security.
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Monica Hesse is a staff writer for the Post Style section. She frequently writes about culture, the Web and the intersection of the two.
Follow @MonicaHesse
Ben Terris is a writer in the Washington Post's Style section with a focus on national politics.
Follow @bterris
Dan Zak is a feature writer. He joined the Post in 2005.
Follow @MrDanZak