On Saturday morning, Donald Trump gave a rambling address at West Point. He spoke for over an hour about DEI programs, Al Capone, trophy wives, and golf. He addressed the 2025 graduating class of West Point’s U.S. Military Academy. At first, Trump appeared to stay focused on graduates and their achievements, but his speech quickly began to veer off topic. He started by bragging about one of his executive orders.
Trump Targets Transgender People
During his speech, Trump claimed to have “liberated our troops from divisive and demeaning political trainings” and added that there will be “no more critical race theory or transgender for everybody.” Back in January, Trump issued an executive order whose goal was to deny the existence of transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people throughout the government.
“The job of the U.S. Armed Forces is not to host drag shows to transform foreign cultures but to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun,” he said. “The military‘s job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America, anywhere, anytime, and anyplace.”
After Trump signed the executive order, West Point disbanded clubs that were based on race, ethnicity, and gender. Some of the groups disbanded included “the Asian-Pacific Forum Club, the National Society of Black Engineers, the Native American Heritage Forum, the Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers Club.”
West Point: Trump And Immigration
Trump then went on to praise his administration’s crackdown on immigration. Just hours before his speech, a judge had ruled that a Guatemalan man “wrongfully” deported be returned. “Our country was invaded for the last four years, and they’ve allowed people to come into our country that shouldn’t be here.”
“We’re getting them out and bringing them back where they came from,” Trump said. “Hopefully, the courts will allow us to continue. You know, we had the greatest election victory. This was November 5. We won the popular vote by millions of votes,” he added.
Trophy Wives
Trump then went on a tangent about “trophy wives.” He told a story about real estate developer William Levitt. Trump said Levitt had “momentum,” but then lost it. “He ended up getting a divorce, found a new wife,” Trump said.
“Could you say a trophy wife? I guess we can say a trophy wife. It didn’t work out too well, but that doesn’t work out too well, I must tell you. A lot of trophy wives, it doesn’t work out. But it made him happy for a little while at least. But he found a new wife.”
Trump then moved on to golf. He brought up retired golfer Gary Player. “To be really successful, you’re always going to have to work hard. An example is a great athlete, Gary Player, great golfer. He wasn’t as big as the other men that were playing against him. Great, big, strong guys. Gary was a smaller guy,” Trump said.
“He’s a friend of mine; he gets a little angry at people. He hits the ball just this far,” Trump continued. “He said, ‘I hit the ball further than them. Why am I small?’ But he worked very, very hard. He was always doing exercise. He was always, he was, well ahead of his time. He never stopped.”
Trump Talks Al Capone At West Point
He then moved to Al Capone. “I was investigated more than the great late Alphonse Capone,” Trump told the West Point graduates. “Alphonse Capone was a monster. He was a very hardened criminal. I went through more investigations than Alphonse Capone, and now I’m talking to you as president. Can you believe this?”
Trump Leaves West Point To Golf
Trump rambled for over an hour and wound things up just before noon. He then flew to his golf club in New Jersey. It’s been five years since an appearance at West Point left Trump being scrutinized. In 2020, after giving a speech, Trump was seen struggling to walk down a rampway. That led to questions about his physical health.
Trump was angered by the questions about his health and said he had to walk slowly because the ramp had no grip and was slippery. This year, he avoided the ramp completely and walked slowly down a small set of steps.
