USA TODAY International Edition
Trump declares no politician in history ‘ treated worse’
President tells U. S. Coast Guard Academy graduates that he’s proud of what he’s achieved
WASHINGTON On a brief escape from the political firestorm brewing in Washington, President Trump protested the media coverage of his 4- month- old administration in a commencement address Wednesday at the United States Coast Guard Academy.
“No politician in history — and I say this with great surety — has been treated worse or more unfairly,” Trump said during his speech in New London, Conn., of both the Washington media and his political critics.
Telling the Coast Guard cadets that “adversity makes you stronger,” he appeared undeterred after a difficult week for the Trump White House. “The people understand what I’m doing — that’s the most important thing.”
Trump did not make specific references to the problems awaiting him, but they are multiplying.
Trump and his administration have been on the defense since reports earlier this week that he revealed highly classified information, provided by Israel, to Russian diplomats in an Oval Office meeting. On Tuesday, revela- tions that now- fired FBI director James Comey kept notes of a February meeting that say Trump asked him to close the agency’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn shook political circles and sparked accusations from Democratic lawmakers of possible obstruction of justice.
Making his second and last commencement address of the season — he spoke Saturday at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. — Trump began his remarks by lauding the graduates for their accomplishments and thanking them for their service. He extolled Coast Guard duties ranging from interdiction of drug smuggling to patrols of the innercoastal waterways.
The president then gave the cadets “some advice.” They will not always be treated fairly, he said, and things will happen to them that “you do not deserve.”
He then launched into a defiant defense of his record. “Look at the way I’ve been treated lately,” he said.
Trump says he’s proud of his administration’s accomplishments, including the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and proposed regulation rollbacks, and declared he has no plans to give up.
“The people understand what I’m doing.” President Trump