Date: 2025-07-04 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00028568
TRUMP
ADDRESS AT WEST POINT
Trump addresses a West Point upended by his changes
ADDRESS AT WEST POINT
Trump addresses a West Point upended by his changes
President Donald Trump at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Saturday.
(Nathan Howard/Reuters)
Original article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/24/trump-west-point-graduation-dei-military
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
I am not a 'historian', but I know a bit about history.
I have a huge respect for the education associated with military academies. When I was growing up in the UK, my wish was to go to the Dartnouth Naval Acadeny. That never happened, though I did get to play cricket against the Dartmouth cadets with my boarding school cricket team!
I also got to visit the annual Navy Days at the Devonport Dockyard when ships, equipment and various impressive 'drills' were on display tp the visiting public.
Though I have never served in uniform, I have been 'protected' by soldiers on a variety of my own consulting missions around the world.
My opinion of President Trump is not good. There is nothing about him to admire ... and essentially he is a fraud and a 'con-artist'.
Trump is dangerous and also foolish.
America deserves better ... but maybe it is also the case that Americans are getting what they deserve. A big number of Americans voted for him ... which is a fact ... and sadly also a testimony to the stupidity o many Americans.
Listen to the disjointed 'rambles' of President Trump almost every times he gets to speak!
Peter Burgess
When Trump last spoke at the U.S. Military Academy, the institution was reckoning with racial justice protests sweeping the country. Now, he is taking credit for ridding the military of “social experiments.”
Written by Emily Davies, Cleve R. Wootson Jr. and Dan Lamothe
Updated May 24, 2025
WEST POINT, N.Y. — When President Donald Trump last addressed the graduating class of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, protests inspired by the police killing of George Floyd had swept the country — forcing a reckoning on college campuses that extended to the storied institution.
Then, school officials directed cadets to spend an academic year exploring how to “unearth and confront racism, sexism, and other biases that persist at this academy and that undermine American society.”
Now, five years later, the academy has banished talk of systemic inequity, abolished student affinity clubs for women and minorities, and instructed faculty to purge terms such as “feminist” and “systemic racism” from syllabi, all at the order of their commander in chief.
Returning to address graduates on Saturday, he arrived at a different West Point: one his administration has swiftly reshaped to reflect his worldview.
“You are the first West Point graduates of the golden age of America,” Trump said, adding later, “We’ve turned it around.”
Follow Trump’s second term
Trump, who gave the speech wearing a hat emblazoned with his campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” intertwined his political ideology with words about the military’s success. He said that as president, he had rebuilt the military “better than ever before” and rid it of “social experiments” like the teaching of critical race theory and efforts to support transgender soldiers. And he took credit for a rise in military recruitment.
Trump also made a point to criticize his predecessor, Joe Biden, and what he cast as liberal ideas, claiming that politicians “subjected the armed forces to all manner of social projects” and declaring, “We will not have men playing women’s sports.”
“It’s a feeling of real whiplash,” said Graham Parsons, a former West Point professor who resigned from America’s oldest service academy after publicly criticizing the impact of Trump’s policies. “We used to raise the possibility that in the military and beyond, there are still real structural problems with racism and sexism. That would not fly now.”
President Donald Trump at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Saturday.
Trump talks transgender athletes during West Point speech
(Nathan Howard/Reuters)
During President Trump's May 24 commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, he vowed to eliminate transgender athletes and DEI programs in the military, calling them 'social experiments.' (Video: TWP)
Since reclaiming the White House, Trump has set his sights on institutions of higher education as keys to unraveling the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that he says have corrupted American culture. In some instances, he has experienced challenges from the courts or universities as they dispute the limits of his power. But at West Point, an institution run by the Pentagon, the president can, for the most part, have his way.
Several professors and military observers said the changes implemented at the academy in response to Trump’s executive orders have thrust the historically nonpartisan institution into the partisan fray.
“Critics are saying that the administration does not seem to understand that and is making reckless changes to the ways we develop military leaders,” said Peter Feaver, a professor at Duke University and an expert on civil-military relations.
A screen shows President Donald Trump addressing
the commencement ceremony at West Point on Saturday.
(Nathan Howard/Reuters)
In a statement, the White House said Trump’s predecessor had politicized the armed services.
“After Joe Biden spent four years injecting DEI, gender ideology, and woke politics into military policy, President Trump is restoring a military that is solely based on excellence, readiness, and lethality,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement. “On the battlefield, there can be no accommodation for anything less than resilience, strength, and the ability to withstand extraordinary physical demands.”
Less than six months into his second term, Trump has already made his mark on the military.
In January, he endured a bruising political fight over his pick for defense secretary, former “Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host Pete Hegseth, batting down allegations of misconduct to elevate a leader who shared his view that a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion had weakened the military.
Since then, Trump and Hegseth have fired at least nine senior military officers who regularly touted diversity training as a strength during the Biden administration. They have declared that DEI policies “are incompatible with the values” of the Defense Department and prohibited academies from teaching what they have called “critical race theory,” which Republicans made a flash point during the presidential campaign.
Hegseth has said the policy changes are aimed at increasing the lethality of the nation’s fighting forces, even as the administration has stated its intention to limit the nation’s participation in armed conflict.
In signing the executive order, Trump said he was “committed to meritocracy and to the elimination of race-based and sex-based discrimination” in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Graduating cadets throw their hats in the air Saturday at the >br> end of commencement ceremonies at the U.S. Military Academy.
(Adam Gray/AP)
This holiday weekend, Trump’s schedule will be bookended by military-centric events. On Monday, he is scheduled to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
Vice President JD Vance, who is also expected to attend the Arlington ceremony on Monday, gave his own address to military graduates on Friday, telling U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen that the administration’s change in approach to deploying military force meant the United States “ought to be cautious in deciding to throw a punch.” He did not spend time discussing the academic standards at the institution.
And on June 14, the White House has planned a multimillion-dollar military parade on the National Mall to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army — a date that coincides with the president’s birthday.
Across military academies, some students and faculty have subtly resisted the Trump administration’s decrees, hoping to maintain an academic culture that tolerates disparate political views and fosters racial diversity.
At the U.S. Naval Academy, some midshipmen have started using nongovernment email addresses to run underground versions of the same affinity clubs disbanded by their administration. Others have used the new email addresses to communicate their concerns about banned books or shuttered clubs to professors, according to three faculty members interviewed by The Washington Post. The faculty spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid professional retribution. Military officers who use “contemptuous words” against the president and other federal officials can be court-martialed, according to the military code of conduct.
At West Point, some faculty have tweaked language in their syllabi to comply while continuing to teach the same topics, said Parsons.
Parsons, who taught philosophy and military ethics at the academy, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece that Trump had so changed West Point that Parsons was “ashamed to be associated with the academy.”
“Once a school that strove to give cadets the broad-based, critical-minded, nonpartisan education they need for careers as Army officers, [West Point] was suddenly eliminating courses, modifying syllabuses and censoring arguments to comport with the ideological tastes of the Trump administration.”
After it published, the school launched an investigation into “allegations of misconduct,” he said. Parsons said he resigned before he was fired.
His last day was Friday, a day before Trump was set to address his former students.
Spokespeople for the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Naval Academy did not return requests for comment Friday.
A Naval Academy professor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said he has told his students “there is a point where compliance turns into complicity.”
That professor said he has already seen academic consequences related to Trump’s rhetoric and directives.
Students once felt free to debate affirmative action, abortion and gun control. They argued about whether the country should lean more interventionist or more isolationist, the professor said.
Then Trump issued the executive order, which was soon followed by Hegseth’s memo that abolished “DEI offices and any vestiges of such offices,” banned instruction on race or gender, and told professors to teach that “America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history.”
Faculty have since been told to run their research through an AI screening tool to determine whether they are compliant with the new guidelines, documents show. The device then flags words including “barrier,” “Black,” “allyship,” “cultural differences” and the “Gulf of Mexico” that do not comply with Trump’s executive order, the provost told faculty in a newsletter reviewed by The Post.
“We at the Naval Academy are here to prepare young officers to command. They need to know what we have learned from our study of politics and history and literature and languages,” the professor said. “We are failing them and we are failing in our jobs if we suppress some things we know are true and we parrot other things we know are false.”
The tension has come up in class and in individual exchanges with cadets. The professor said he has counseled students who feel torn about deployment, caught between their belief in service to the country and their worries about the president who would give their orders.
He advised them to serve until they face an order they believe to be illegal.
If that point comes, he told them, “reject it rather than compromise yourself.”
Natalie Allison contributed to this report.
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What readers are saying
The comments overwhelmingly express disdain for President Trump's presence and speech at the West Point graduation, focusing on his history as a draft dodger and his perceived disrespect for military values. Many commenters criticize his removal of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, viewing it as a step backward. The speech itself is described as incoherent and self-centered, with Trump's wearing of a MAGA hat seen as inappropriate and disrespectful. Overall, the sentiment is that Trump's actions and demeanor are a disgrace to the military and its traditions. ///////////////////// This summary is AI-generated. AI can make mistakes and this summary is not a replacement for reading
One wonders about the black and female cadets graduating. Will their careers be hampered because this administration doesn't think they are equally capable as their white male classmates? Shame on this administration. Why no mention in the headline of his incoherent remarks and rambling speech full of insults and grievances and then not shaking hands of each cadet? Why does the media give him a pass while litigating Biden who is no longer in office? He said that nobody wanted to join the military under Bide to a thousand odd Cadets who joined under Biden. Removing DEI isn’t partisan. Injecting it into West Point was partisan. DEI is a policy exclusively promoted by Democrats. Such a disgrace...coupled with abhorrent behavior As a veteran of Mi Lai military era, a sergeant who always wondered why the Army never even bothered to identify exactly what an 'illegal order' was: Just that the answer was 'D'--an order you must not obey. Oh. How did that glib training work out? (Edited) Trump delivered an hour+ of weird ramblings (trophy wives? really???) while wearing a decidedly undignified MAGA hat, and left after shaking exactly NO cadets' hands at the latest Military Academy graduation. Makes Americans SO PROUD, right? Listen carefully; you can hear tens of thousands of deceased veterans spinning in their graves! Gotta love a person who essentially called these graduates suckers and losers being allowed to give them advice and just a word salad filled with moronism’s. What country! THIS is who you elected and he represents you and your values. Proud? I hope these guys are prepared to die for him because it won’t be for the country and he will be laughing his you know what off because he sent you to do what his bone spurs would not... Show more Your article hardly captures the erratic and irrational speech given by Trump to the graduating cadets — for example, his ramblings about “trophy wives”, his self-professed success as a business man contrasted with William Levitt’s failure, and his incredulity about the existence of stealth technology for American planes. Anytime he veered from the written speech, his vocabulary devolved to his stock phrases on repeat with words of no more than 3 syllables. The Post and all mainstream... Show more Let's give the young , smart women and men of the Military Academy some credit for seeing through the hypocrisy and lunacy of Trump's rhetoric. Ab solutely blood chilling. (Edited) Appeasers, if President Biden gave that speech you would all be asking for his resignation - disgusting. A lot of media time devoted to the recent book release by Jake Tapper about President Biden's mental and physical decline and the ''coverup'' by close staff, family and others including certain members of the media. This has engendered a lot of well-deserved criticism about how the public should have been informed at the time. OK. Now what about Trump's obvious descent into madness? He is more and more erratic, irrational and obsessed with attacking, blaming and... Show more Does anyone think these cadets see and hear that racist, selfish fraud in a goofy red cap rant about his grievances and say to themselves, “yeah, I’d go through the gates of hell for him”? C'mon, doesn't Trump look silly in that hat among the West Point cadets? I just read a transcript of the word salad Trump delivered to West Point. There was little there for any graduating class, much less a graduating class at the Army's premier university, where we'll see warriors spread forth to protect our nation. Overall, there was little there to inspire or encourage these men and women, except, perhaps, his comments on business leaders of the past, golfers, trophy wives, and of course, Al Capone. For the most part, this was a campaign speech. boorish,... Show more The least appropriate person to address our future military leaders. Why does trump want to talk to 'suckers and losers,' as he calls them. Trump is a despicable draft dodger and a coward. Convicted Felon Bone Spurs disgraced himself by wearing a campaign hat...also reminded us that in France he refused to lay a wreath in the rain because it might ruin his hairdo, and that in any case, he several times called those who died in service 'losers.' We citizens of America are all losers now because so many voters believed his lies and gave us this day-after-day cruelty and refusal to follow the Constitution on the part of the president who swore to uphold it (oh, is that OK... Show more (Edited) he looked like a horse's patootie. I am shocked at the way your publication has covered this speech. Not only was Trump disrespectful, inappropriate in his dress and remarks, but talking about trophy wives, yachts, misbehavior of anonymous wealthy friends….how is any of that relevant, inspiring or even coherent? Why are you not covering his mental decline? You sure talked about your concerns for Biden’s mental cognition! Your bias is showing, and it’s not worthy of the history and standing of your publication. ... Show more Pretty sure Patton would have slapped Trump WaPo did not report Trump's comments on trophy wives. Stop the sane washing and tell the story. One wonders about the black and female cadets graduating. Will their careers be hampered because this administration doesn't think they are equally capable as their white male classmates? Shame on this administration. Why no mention in the headline of his incoherent remarks and rambling speech full of insults and grievances and then not shaking hands of each cadet? Why does the media give him a pass while litigating Biden who is no longer in office? “You are the first West Point graduates of the golden age of America,” I would change that to gold plated. how does this coward even think he can speak at Westpoint. This cowardly jerk has balls but no brains It would be a good example to the cadets if the entire West Point leadership provided a response to the president’s directive. Strength in numbers. Take off that stupid hat. It’s not a political rally. West Point should have Trump's commencement rant engraved in granite and placed at the main entrance. Perhaps it can be used as a history lesson at some later date. After giving his campaign rally speech to the distinguished West Point graduates, apparently Trump ran off rather than participate as Commander in Chief in awarding their well-earned diplomas. After all, El Trumps considers them “suckers and losers”— all he wants is that any of them and their families who remain so effectively manipulated keep voting for him and his Republican sycophants and enablers (Edited) With Trump, love most of his policies, hate him as a person but unfortunately you get the whole package. Regardless how bad he is, he’s far better than “Kacklin Kamala” Harris so he is the lesser of two evils. This was a rambling and embarrassing speech suited for a campaign rally but totally inappropriate for a college commencement speech, especially one at a Federal Service Academy. Just so embarrassing. And yet, millions are okay with this. Yet the media and the GOP talk about Biden. 5 time draft dodging coward who calls our military 'suckers and losers' delivers a moronic incoherent speech yet again... Can't someone help this Orange Traitor understand a 'commencement' address is about the graduates not his vile narcissist self...or about 'trophy wives'...mind numbingly ignorant... Trump and his cabinet are the biggest disaster of our times. Trump’s notion of “diversity” is a diverse cross section of felons, misdemeanants, fraudsters and drunks apparently… you know, like a drunk him. Where is the reporting that Trump went on a long aimless incoherent ramble about trophy wives and Al Capone? This is just completely pathetic journalism. In fact it does not deserve the name 'journalism.' The new is not just that Trump has killed DEI and any efforts to counter racism and to teach the truth at West Point, but also that Trump daily shows himself mentally incapable of serving as President. (Edited) Above all they must remember that illegal orders are not to be obeyed. If all else fails they are the last line of defense of democracy. May Heaven help the military, the country and the World if Trump being president has anything to do with an increase in military recruitment. He continues to adopt policies akin to 1984's Big Brother Is Watching You, it's almost like he is following a blueprint of implementing Orwell's story. Your library should have it ---- I encourage you to read it again and for goodness' sake, it should be required reading if not already. ... Show more (Edited) Why did you not report on the truly bizarre comments Trump made in his speech? His remarks about “trophy wives” not working out, about a “Golden dome” that would protect West Point, about “Alphonse Capone,“ about cadets looking like male models. It was rambling and weird. But I had to learn that from a video and transcript posted by Roll Call, not the Washington Post. Do better. I hesitate to ask this but were e-books also scrubbed from the Academy libraries? Access to public libraries might alleviate the loss of essential resources and information. If you're going to report on the West Point speech, why not report what he actually said? Not the five-word excerpts that make him sound possibly lucid (accompanied by a tiresome analysis of the Post's version of his 'worldview'), but the real, verbatim quotes that show how deranged and addled he actually is. This is really sorry journalism.