President Donald Trump told the Army's newest officers Saturday that they will not have to serve in "endless wars" being waged in "faraway lands."
In a commencement ceremony at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., that had been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic before the president rescheduled it, Trump presented himself as a staunch supporter of the armed forces who has increased spending on tanks, aircraft and other weapons even as he said they should not be used in fruitless foreign conflicts.
"We are ending the era of endless wars," Trump said. "In its place is a renewed, clear-eyed focus on defending America's vital interests. It is not the duty of U.S. troops to solve ancient conflicts in faraway lands that many people have never even heard of. We are not the policemen of the world. But let our enemies be on notice: If our people are threatened, we will never, ever hesitate to act. And when we fight, from now on, we will only fight to win."
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The president's address skirted the issue of the past few days as he threatened to order active-duty troops to put down demonstrations against racial injustice that have been marred at times by looting and rioting. Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, successfully resisted the president.
Trump alluded to the national reckoning over race after the killing of George Floyd by noting that West Point graduates were among those who "fought and won a bloody war to extinguish the evil of slavery" during the Civil War and were "at the forefront of ending the terrible injustice of segregation" during the civil-rights era.
"What has historically made America unique is the durability of its institutions against the passions and prejudices of the moment," Trump told the cadets. "When times are turbulent, when the road is rough, what matters most is that which is permanent, timeless, enduring and eternal."
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The president's critics have condemned him for exploiting the military and for forcing West Point to hold the commencement in person when other schools canceled theirs. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside West Point on Saturday, holding signs like "Cadets Aren't Props" and "Welcome Cadet Bone Spurs." Others showed support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Inside the gates, it was a commencement ceremony like none other in the 218-year history of West Point. Graduating cadets who had been isolated for 14 days in advance of the event marched onto the field in their dress gray-and-white uniforms and masks. They sat in white folding chairs spaced 6 feet apart, at which point they were allowed to take their masks off. The West Point band played with plastic-glass shields to protect against the virus.
Rather than march on to the stage to shake the president's hand as is customary, the cadets instead saluted the commander in chief from below the stage as their names were called. As is customary for the commander in chief, Trump returned the salutes. No family members or friends were allowed to attend, but the cadets, following tradition, were permitted to throw their caps into the air.
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The president's desire to deliver a commencement address at West Point in person was already a contentious decision. Cadets were sent home in March because of the coronavirus, but after Trump announced that he would go through with plans for a speech, they were ordered back to campus and quarantined in their dorms for the past 14 days to safely stage the ceremony.
As they awaited Trump on Saturday, the graduating cadets, who over the past two weeks had been divided into four pods of around 250 each, dining in separate shifts, were assembled into a full crowd in a quad away from the ceremony site. Reunited as a class, few if any appeared at that moment to be trying to maintain social distance as recommended by public-health officials.
The ceremony was the first since 1977 that was not held in Michie Stadium, the West Point football venue, because it did not have enough room on the field to keep all 1,107 cadets 6 feet apart. Instead, it was held on the main parade ground called the Plain with no audience in attendance.