President Donald Trump delivers the commencement address at the 2025 U.S. Military Academy Graduation Ceremony at West Point, New York, on May 24, 2025. Credit - Saul Loeb—Getty Images President Donald Trump returned to the United States Military Academy at West Point on Saturday to give the commencement speech to the graduating class of 2025. Adorned in his trademark "Make America Great Again" hat, Trump spoke to the 1,002-strong class for just under an hour. During his address, he lauded the United States Army as the "greatest and most powerful Army the world has ever known." Beyond this, he stated that he is the one responsible for the Army's might. "And I know because I rebuilt that army, and I rebuilt the military," Trump told the crowd. "We rebuilt it like nobody has ever rebuilt it before in my first term." Trump went on to push his American-first ethos, saying: "We're getting rid of the distractions and we're focusing our military on its core mission: crushing America's adversaries, killing America's enemies, and defending our great American flag like it has never been defended before." In his rally-style speech, Trump celebrated the achievements of the students, while also lauding his own presidency—including his cracking down on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. West Point has found itself in the center of the DEI-related pushback, especially related to the banning of books and educational programs that the Trump Administration says promote DEI. In February,West Point disbanded its Society of Black Engineers clubas well as multiple other clubs listed under "affinity" groups on the club directory. This followed Trump's Jan. 20Executive Ordertitled "Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing" and a Jan. 21 Executive Order titled "Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity." A subsequentJan. 29 instructionfrom Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saw the announcement of a new task force."I direct the establishment of a multi-functional 'Restoring America's Fighting Force' task force charged with overseeing the Department's efforts to abolish DEI offices and any vestiges of such offices that subvert meritocracy, perpetuate unconstitutional discrimination, and promote radical ideologies related to systemic racism and gender fluidity," Hegseth said. Beyond clubs, West Point has reportedly purged work by diverse authors from its libraries and has removed discussions of systemic inequities from its classrooms, leading aWest Point professor toresign, saying: "I am ashamed to be associated with the academy in its current form." Trump addressed his DEI measures during his West Point commencement speech, saying he has "liberated our troops from divisive and demeaning political training." "There will be no more critical race theory or transgender for everybody, forced onto our brave men and women in uniform or on anybody else, for that matter, in this country," Trump said. "And promotions and appointments will not be based on politics or identity. They'll be based on merit…We're a merit-based country again." Trump claimed that his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, "subjected the armed forces to all manner of social projects"—something he says is no longer. The President's speech comes after he and Hegseth have firedmultiple senior military officerswho were known to endorse DEI efforts. The Trump Administration has also once againbanned transgender people from serving in the militaryand hasordered new physical standard testswhich will require the same standards for both men and women. The change in requirements to serve in combat roles is expected to drastically cut the number of women in said roles. Contact usatletters@time.com.
