Trump is returning to West Point to speak at the US Military Academy’s graduation

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is delivering his first military commencement address since returning to office.

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.

Just outside campus, about three dozen demonstrators gathered before the ceremony and were waving miniature American flags. One in the crowd carried a sign that said “Support Our Veterans” and “Stop the Cuts,” while others held up plastic buckets with the message: “Go Army Beat Fascism.”

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.