In his first military commencement address since returning to office, President Donald Trump on Saturday congratulated the graduating cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, highlighting their achievements and asserting his administration’s role in bolstering the nation’s military power.
“You will become officers in the greatest and most powerful Army the world has ever known,” President Trump stated. He attributed this strength to his administration’s efforts, saying, “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 “Make America Great Again” hat, the Republican president also outlined his administration’s revised approach to U.S. foreign policy and military intervention, a theme previously addressed during his recent trip to the Middle East.
“For at least two decades, political leaders from both parties have dragged our military into missions,” President Trump said. He criticized past leaders for engaging in “nation-building crusades to nations that wanted to do nothing with us,” asserting that such interventions were not intended to be the military’s role.
The president’s previous commencement address at West Point occurred in 2020 amidst national unrest following the police killing of George Floyd. In that speech, his focus was on thanking the National Guard for their role in “ensuring peace, safety and the constitutional rule of law on our streets,” and he urged the graduating class to remember the soldiers who fought to end slavery.
In contrast to that earlier period, West Point now operates under the second Trump administration’s executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the military. This February, the academy disbanded a dozen cadet clubs centered 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 executive order prohibits race or sex-based preferences in any part of the U.S. military and directs Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to conduct reviews of DEI initiatives. President Trump had previously pledged to eliminate “woke” military generals and reinstate a merit-based system. During his address on Saturday, he emphasized 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,” President Trump declared.
He also claimed that his administration had achieved a record in peacetime recruiting. “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,” he stated. “And right now, just less than a year later, we just set a brand new peacetime recruiting record.” However, CBS News analysis indicates that military enlistments began to recover from a pandemic-related decline prior to Election Day. While recruitment numbers have continued to rise under President Trump, experts suggest that this increase is likely attributable to recruitment reforms initiated during former President Joe Biden’s term.
President Trump’s address followed a speech at the U.S. Naval Academy the previous day by Vice President JD Vance, a Marine veteran, who highlighted the administration’s shift away from prolonged military engagements and open-ended conflicts, emphasizing that future military missions would only occur with “a specific set of goals in mind.”
Of the 1,002 cadets graduating from West Point, 14 are international cadets representing countries such as Kosovo, Qatar, and Poland. Former President Joe Biden delivered the commencement address at West Point last year, focusing on ongoing foreign policy challenges, including U.S. support for Ukraine and the call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. He also reminded the graduates that their allegiance is to the U.S. Constitution, not to any particular political party.
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