Trump honors West Point cadets' accomplishments during commencement speech, encourages them toward victory

President Donald Trump gave the commencement address at West Point on Saturday morning, congratulating and recognizing the achievements of the graduating cadets.

During the address, Trump honored many of the graduates for their athleticism as well as scholarly accomplishments, even bringing up two cadets from the audience.

"Last January, when more than 1000 cadets volunteered for an 18-and-a-half-mile march on a freezing winter night, Cadet Chris Verdugo completed the task in two hours and 30 minutes flat, smashing the international record for the competition by 13 minutes," Trump said, then having the cadet come up on the stage.

He also congratulated the 513 cadets who graduated from air assault school at West Point, the 80 who made it through Airborne School, and eight who made it through the elite diver school at the military academy, then added that the eight included "the first two women in West Point history to complete diver school Cadets Megan Cooper and Clara Sabo."

Additionally, he brought the West Point football team's quarterback, Bryson Daily, up on stage. "This year, the Black Knights fought your way into the top 20 nationally and racked up your longest winning streak since 1949 with the help of graduating quarterback Cadet Bryson Daily, or as you called him, Captain America," Trump said in the speech.

"Over the past four years, an extraordinary group of professors, teachers, coaches, leaders, and warriors have transformed this class of cadets into an exceptional group of scholars and soldiers. And so let's give the entire group, the entire West Point faculty, the staff — for their incredible love of you and outstanding devotion to the core — let's give them a little hand," Trump added.

He went onto honor those parents in the audience at the event who also served in the military and congratulated the class of 2025 on their accomplishments in graduating from the "the most elite and storied Military Academy in human history," Trump said, adding, "You will become officers in the greatest and most powerful army the world has ever known."

He called back previous well-known graduates from West Point, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, and others. He then also recognized 26 graduates who were able to wear the "prestigious star wreath, signifying the highest level of academic achievement."

Over the course of the address, Trump touted the military's history as well as his agenda to make the military strong, citing that recruitment has hit record levels over the first few months of his administration, and that the military is set to break its recruitment target for 2025 in the next month.

He gave parting words of advice to the graduates as well, telling them that they had to love what they do, to think big, that hard work will pay off, that they can’t lose their momentum in what they are doing, and that they have to be able to take risks in life to be successful.

"This is one of the hardest schools to get into, and writing your own ticket to top jobs on Wall Street or Silicon Valley wouldn't be bad, but I think what you're doing is better. Instead of sports teams and spreadsheets and software, you chose a life of service, very important service, instead of stock options. And I do that stuff, it's sort of boring, honestly, compared to what you're doing, it's real boring. You chose honor and you chose sacrifice," Trump said during the speech. "West Point cadets don't just have the brightest minds. You also have the bravest hearts and the noblest souls."