West Point, N.Y. – President Trump used his first military commencement address since returning to office to congratulate the cadets at West Point for their achievements and take credit for the United States’ military power.
“You will become officers in the greatest and most powerful Army the world has ever known,” Mr. President said, “And I know because I rebuilt the Army and I rebuilt the military, and we rebuilt it like nobody had ever rebuilt it before.”
Wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, the Republican president also detailed the shift in U.S. foreign policy and military intervention, something he previously addressed during his trip to the Middle East earlier this month.
“For at least two decades, political leaders from both parties have dragged our military into missions,” Mr. Trump said, accusing leaders in the past of sending soldiers into “nation-building crusades to nations that wanted to do with us. “It was never meant to be. It wasn’t meant to be.”
The last time the president gave a speech at the U.S. Military Academy came amid nationwide reckoning following the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. In that address, Mr. Trump focused his speech on thanking the National Guard for “ensuring peace, safety and the constitutional rule of law on our streets.” He urged the class to never forget the soldiers who fought to “extinguish the evil of slavery.”
Nine graduates in 2020 wrote a letter to administrators asking for anti-racism training to be part of the curriculum at West Point, saying the institution was failing to produce leaders equipped to lead diverse organizations.
Five years later, West Point is complying with the second Trump administration’s executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, programs in the military. In February, the U.S. military academy disbanded a dozen cadet clubs formed around race and gender, including the Asian-Pacific Forum Club, the National Society of Black Engineers Club, and the Society of Women Engineers Club.
The order bans race or sex-based preference in any part of the U.S. military and directs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to conduct internal reviews of DEI initiatives. The President vowed during the campaign to get rid of “woke” military generals and re-establish a merit-based system.
On Saturday, Mr. Trump touted that critical race theory would no longer be taught at military academies.
“We’re getting rid of the 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,” he said.
Mr. Trump also said that his administration achieved a new record in peacetime recruiting record.
“Today, morale in the Armed Forces is soaring to the highest levels in many decades after years of recruiting shortfalls, and we had years and years of recruiting shortfalls. And just last year was the worst of all, the last year of the Biden administration,” Mr. Trump said. “And right now, just less than a year later, we just set a brand new peacetime recruiting record.”
CBS News has found that military records show enlistments began rebounding from a pandemic slump long before Election Day. While numbers have continued to rise under Mr. Trump, experts say the so-called “Trump Bump” — a term used by Hegseth — is more likely the result of recruitment reforms introduced during former President Joe Biden’s term.
Mr. Trump’s address comes a day after Vice President JD Vance, a Marine veteran, spoke at the U.S. Naval Academy and emphasized the administration’s shift in foreign policy against forever wars and open-ended conflicts. No longer would the U.S. send the military on missions unless there was a “specific set of goals in mind,” he told the graduates.
Ahead of Memorial Day, Vance also reflected on the sacrifice of service members. He shared the story of Major Megan McClung, 34, who served alongside him in Iraq and was killed by a roadside bomb.
“She was an officer I served with who was bright, tough and incredibly dedicated to her job,” Vance said.
He acknowledged that while not all the graduates shared his politics, he was still rooting for them.
Of the 1,002 cadets graduating from the U.S. Military Academy, 14 are international cadets coming from across the globe, including Kosovo, Qatar, and Poland.
Former President Joe Biden gave the commencement speech at West Point last year, during which he focused on foreign policy challenges that are still facing the U.S. He pledged continuous U.S. support for Ukraine, called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and reminded graduates that their oath is to the U.S. Constitution, not a particular party.