Trump speaks to graduates at West Point
WEST POINT, N.Y. — President Donald Trump told the Army’s newest officers Saturday that they will not have to serve in “endless wars” being waged in “faraway lands” but made no mention of his thwarted effort in recent days to deploy active-duty military to the streets of U.S. cities over the objections of Pentagon leaders.
In a commencement ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point that had been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic before the president insisted on moving forward with it, Trump presented himself as a staunch supporter of the armed forces who has increased spending on tanks, aircraft and other weapons even as he said they should not be used in fruitless foreign conflicts.
“We are ending the era of endless wars,” Trump said. “In its place is a renewed, clear-eyed focus on defending America’s vital interests. It is not the duty of U.S. troops to solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands that many people have never even heard of. We are not the policeman of the world. But let our enemies be on notice: If our people are threatened, we will never, ever hesitate to act. And when we fight, from now on, we will only fight to win.”
The president’s address skirted the more acute issue of the last few days as he threatened to order activeduty troops to put down demonstrations against racial injustice that have been predominantly peaceful but marred at times by looting and rioting. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, successfully resisted the president, leaving a deep schism between the commander in chief and the military.
Trump alluded to the national reckoning over race following the killing of George Floyd only elliptically by noting that West Point graduates were among those who “fought and won a bloody war to extinguish the evil of slavery” during the Civil War and were “at the forefront of ending the terrible injustice of segregation” during the civil rights era.
“What has historically made America unique is the durability of its institutions against the passions and prejudices of the moment,” Trump told the cadets. “When times are turbulent, when the road is rough, what matters most is that which is permanent, timeless, enduring and eternal.”
The president’s critics have condemned him for exploiting the military and for forcing West Point to hold commencement in person when other schools canceled theirs. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside West Point on Saturday, holding signs like “Cadets Aren’t Props” and “Welcome Cadet Bone Spurs.” Others showed support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Inside the gates, it was a commencement ceremony like none other in the 218year history of West Point. Graduating cadets who had been isolated for 14 days in advance of the event marched onto the field in their dress gray-and-white uniforms and face masks. They sat in white folding chairs spaced 6 feet apart, at which point they were allowed to take their masks off.
Rather than march onto stage to shake the president’s hand as is customary, the cadets instead saluted the commander in chief from below the stage as their names were called. Trump saluted back. No family or friends were allowed to attend, but the cadets were permitted to throw their caps into the air as is traditional.
The president’s appearance at West Point came at a fraught moment in the history of civilian-military relations in the U.S. Esper and Milley, both appointed to their positions by Trump, resisted the president’s demands to send active-duty troops into the streets, first in an Oval Office meeting that turned into a heated argument and later in public comments.
The tension was accentuated by the president’s walk through Lafayette Square to St. John’s Church after peaceful protesters were forcibly pushed out by riot police, a photo op that both Esper and Milley joined, to their later regret amid vociferous criticism from retired military officers like Jim Mattis, a Marine general who served as Trump’s first defense secretary.
Trump wanted to fire Esper after he spoke out publicly against invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807 to send active-duty troops into the streets but was advised against it by aides. Milley considered resigning before opting against it for now but made a point of publicly apologizing for participating in the president’s church photo op.
The president’s desire to deliver a commencement address at West Point in person was already a contentious decision. Cadets were sent home in March because of the coronavirus, but after Trump announced that he would go through with plans for a speech, they were ordered back to campus and quarantined in their dorms for the past 14 days.