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The Republican president is set to speak to West Point’s
graduating class on Saturday morning.
Trump gave the commencement address at West Point in 2020,
during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The president urged
the graduating cadets to “never forget” the soldiers who fought
a war over slavery during his remarks, which came as the nation
was reckoning with its history on race after the murder of
George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Trump also paid tribute to the military academy’s history and
its famed graduates, including Douglas MacArthur and Dwight D.
Eisenhower. The ceremony five years ago drew scrutiny because
the U.S. Military Academy forced the graduating cadets, who had
been home because of COVID-19, to return to an area near a
pandemic hot spot.
Trump traveled to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, earlier this month to
speak to the University of Alabama’s graduating class. His
remarks mixed standard commencement fare and advice with
political attacks against his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden,
musings about transgender athletes and lies about the 2020
election.
On Friday, Vice President JD Vance spoke to the graduating class
at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Vance said in
his remarks that Trump is working to ensure U.S. soldiers are
deployed with clear goals rather than the “undefined missions”
and “open-ended conflicts” of the past.
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