Trump addresses West Point graduates following DEI crackdown at military academies [View all]
Source: ABC News
May 24, 2025, 6:04 AM
President Donald Trump spoke before this year's U.S. Military Academy graduates as their commencement speaker on Saturday amid the administration's crackdown on diversity initiatives and removal of key military leaders.
Trump addressed the crowd while wearing a red "Make America Great Again" hat and brought a few graduates on the stage as he praised their achievements. The president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have called for major changes to military academies since assuming office as part of the administration's rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and these changes took center stage in Trump's speech.
In February, shortly after Hegseth was confirmed by the Senate, West Point disbanded several student clubs, including the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, the Latin Cultural Club and the Native American Heritage Forum.
The changes were made "in accordance with recent Presidential Executive Orders, Department of Defense guidance, and the Department of the Army guidance," according to a memo obtained by ABC News. Also in February, Trump, who avoided being drafted during the Vietnam War due to what he claimed were bone spurs, dismissed the boards of visitors of military academies, claiming without evidence that the schools were "infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues."
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-address-west-point-graduates-dei-crackdown/story?id=122116685
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