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President Donald Trump delivered the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy on Saturday, using the occasion to celebrate West Point’s graduating class and tout his administration’s rollback of diversity initiatives and military recruitment policies.
“You will become officers in the greatest and most powerful Army the world has ever known,” Trump told the 1,002 graduating cadets. “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 signature red “Make America Great Again” hat, Trump also used the speech to defend his approach to military policy, asserting that his administration had ended an era of what he called misguided foreign interventions.
“For at least two decades, political leaders from both parties have dragged our military into missions,” he said, denouncing “nation-building crusades to nations that wanted to do nothing with us.” “It was never meant to be. It wasn’t meant to be,” he added.
Trump’s remarks come during his second term in office, marking his first commencement address to a service academy since returning to the presidency. His previous address at West Point in 2020 came amid widespread protests following the killing of George Floyd. Then, he praised the National Guard for “ensuring peace, safety, and the constitutional rule of law.”
Five years later, Trump’s tone reflected his administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across the military. In February, West Point disbanded more than a dozen race- and gender-based cadet clubs, including the Society of Women Engineers and the National Society of Black Engineers, in response to a new executive order.
The order bans race or sex-based preferences in military programs and tasks Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with reviewing DEI initiatives. “We’re getting rid of the distractions,” Trump said, “and we’re focusing our military on its core mission — crushing America’s adversaries, killing America’s enemies, and defending our great American flag.”
Trump also claimed credit for what he called a record-breaking year for military recruitment, blaming the previous administration for “the worst recruiting shortfall in decades.” He said morale in the Armed Forces had “soared” in the past year.
However, CBS News reports that recruitment numbers had begun to recover before Trump took office. Experts attribute the rebound to reforms implemented under President Joe Biden, not the so-called “Trump Bump” referenced by current Defense Secretary Hegseth.
Vice President JD Vance, a Marine veteran, spoke at the U.S. Naval Academy’s graduation on Friday. He echoed Trump’s criticism of “forever wars” and told midshipmen the military would no longer be sent on open-ended missions without “a specific set of goals in mind.”
Vance also paid tribute to fallen comrades, including Major Megan McClung, a Marine officer he served with in Iraq who was killed by a roadside bomb in 2006. “She was bright, tough, and incredibly dedicated to her job,” he said.
The West Point Class of 2025 includes 14 international cadets from countries including Kosovo, Qatar, and Poland. Last year’s commencement address was delivered by President Biden, who emphasized U.S. global alliances and reaffirmed support for Ukraine while calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Trump concluded Saturday’s speech by telling cadets, “This is your time. This is your mission. And this is your Army — the greatest force for freedom and justice in the history of the world.”
