President Donald Trump gave his first service academy commencement speech of his second term on Saturday, praising the graduating cadets at West Point for their achievements and career path. He also shifted into a campaign-style message, repeating political points and past complaints.
“In a few moments, you’ll become graduates of the most elite and storied military academy in human history,” Trump said at the Michie Stadium ceremony. “And you will become officers of the greatest and most powerful army the world has ever known. And I know, because I rebuilt that army, and I rebuilt the military. And we rebuilt it like nobody has ever rebuilt it before in my first term.”
Wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, the Republican president told the 1,002 members of the class of 2025 at the U.S. Military Academy that the U.S. is the “hottest country in the world” and stressed an “America First” message for the military.
“We’re getting rid of distractions and we’re focusing our military on its core mission: crushing America’s adversaries, killing America’s enemies and defending our great American flag like it has never been defended before,” Trump said. He then added that “the job of the U.S. armed forces is not to host drag shows or transform foreign cultures,” referring to drag shows on military bases that the Biden administration ended after Republican objections.
Trump told the cadets they were graduating at a key time in Army history and criticized earlier political leaders for sending troops on “nation-building crusades to nations that wanted nothing to do with us.” He said he was removing transgender ideas, “critical race theory,” and other training topics he described as political and divisive.
He claimed past administrations used the military for social and political goals, while ignoring border security and using up resources in foreign wars.
Much of Trump’s speech sounded like his campaign rallies. He talked about the state of the country when he left office in January 2021 and brought up his win over Kamala Harris in the last election, saying voters gave him a “great mandate” and “it gives us the right to do what we want to do.”
U.S. Military Academy graduating cadetsHe often shifted the focus to himself, repeating campaign lines like his claim that he’s been investigated more than mobster Al Capone.
In one story, he mentioned “trophy wives” and yachts while telling a tale about billionaire real estate developer William Levitt, whom he said lost his drive later in life.
But Trump did take time to praise individual cadets. He brought Chris Verdugo to the stage, recognizing his 18.5-mile march completed in two hours and 30 minutes on a freezing January night. He had the nationally ranked men’s lacrosse team stand up, and he highlighted Army’s quarterback Bryson Daily, praising his strong shoulder. Trump used Daily to argue against allowing transgender women to compete in women’s sports.
Keeping with presidential tradition, Trump pardoned about six cadets who had broken school rules.
He told graduates, “you could have done anything you wanted, you could have gone anywhere,” and that going into top jobs on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley “wouldn’t be bad. But I think what you’re doing is better.”
He encouraged them to follow their passion, think big, work hard, stay true to their culture, believe in America, and take risks.
“This is a time of incredible change and we do not need an officer corps of careerists and yes men,” Trump said. “We need patriots with guts and vision and backbone.”
Outside the campus, around three dozen demonstrators gathered before the ceremony, waving small American flags. One carried a sign that read “Support Our Veterans” and “Stop the Cuts,” while others held buckets that said: “Go Army Beat Fascism.”
On Friday, Vice President JD Vance gave a speech to the Naval Academy’s graduating class in Annapolis, Maryland. Vance said Trump wants U.S. troops to be sent out with clear goals, instead of being involved in “undefined missions” and “open-ended conflicts.”
Trump last gave the West Point commencement address in 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, when cadets were required to travel from across the country and gather in New York, which was then a virus hotspot.