Cadet Trump Flunks the Mission
By Bob Gaydos
Cadet Donald Trump … at NYMA, 1964
It’s roughly a 20-minute drive down the Hudson River from New York Military Academy in Cornwall-on-Hudson, N.Y., to West Point Military Academy. Twenty minutes and, for Donald Trump, a lifetime of lessons ignored.
Trump is a 1964 graduate of the military school that was often used by parents to try to instill some discipline in undisciplined teenaged sons. The academy’s stated mission is “to develop our cadets in mind, body, and character in preparation for further education and leadership.” Kind of like West Point.
And there’s the cadet code, the same as West Point’s: “A cadet will not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do.”
So what a perfect setting and opportunity last Saturday for the Narcissist-in-Chief, who is always all about setting the stage, to deliver a unique, personal message of inspiration and dedication to the graduating class of 2025 at West Point: “Here’s what I learned about duty, honor and country nearly 60 years ago at a preparatory military academy just up the road from here …”
He failed. Miserably. Instead of hearing a salute to their hard work, discipline, responsibility and dedication to serving their country (all of which was in the printed transcript of the speech written for him, but much of which was ignored by him), the 1,002 new second lieutenants got a typical rambling, sometimes slurred, Trump monologue that was largely about himself (but not his NYMA experience), and also the perils of trophy wives, yachts, 9/11, and “liberating our troops from divisive and demeaning political trainings,” a reference to critical race theory and transgender policy, not really major issues at West Point.
He also commented on how “handsome” the male cadets looked in their uniforms, ignoring the fact that West Point is a coed institution.
What a national embarrassment. And what a shame for the graduates, who had their special day commemorated by a man wearing a red MAGA political campaign hat and saying such things as, “The job of the U.S. armed forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures (and) spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun. The military’s job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America, anywhere, anytime and any place.”
He did toss in an ironic (apparently not to him) personal note, saying, “I went through a very tough time with some very radicalized sick people. I say I was investigated more than the great, late Alphonse Capone.”
Well, he might have been the first 34 times convicted felon to speak at a West Point graduation, but even here he could have tied in his NYMA connection by noting that John Gotti Jr. was also an alum. Junior, also a felon, attended the school in 1984. Other alums of note include Francis Ford Coppola and Stephen Sondheim.
The school web site does list Trump as a notable alumni, but makes no special acknowledgement of him elsewhere. Seems odd to me for a two-time president, but then the academy was rescued from bankruptcy during Trump‘s time there by a group of Chinese investors.
Bankruptcy. China. Synchronicity?
To me, the mere fact that his advisers allowed him to give the commencement address at West Point was foolish given his increasingly disjointed public appearances and a history of calling members of the military “suckers“ and “losers” and getting a deferment from military service in Vietnam for “bone spurs.” Also, there is his well-known bragging that “I know more than all the generals” and his insult of Naval Academy graduate, the late John McCain, for being taken as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Maybe the powers behind the throne feared being fired if they tried to talk him out of something he insisted on, given his history of dumping anyone he sees as not loyal. But while the setting was perfect, a Saturday afternoon along the Hudson River, Trump is clearly deteriorating mentally and there wasn’t a whole lot there to begin with. He just can’t stick to the script and he’s increasingly quick to anger.
It’s the kind of thing that might make some suspicious people wonder whether this 78-year-old man has the mental capacity to handle the job of president. Just saying.
Finally, just to add insult to injury at West Point, Trump didn’t stick around for the entire ceremony as other presidents have done to watch the cadets toss their caps in the air and to salute and shake hands with each member of the graduating class. What a lifetime memory that would be for the cadet. Joe Biden did it last year.
Instead, Trump bugged out, saying he had to go “talk to China and Russia.” Actually, to play golf. After all, it was a Saturday and he had given the “suckers and losers“ enough of his time.
On second thought, maybe the cadets were better off that he didn’t stick around to shake hands and they didn’t have to salute him.
Tags: Bob Gaydos, cadets, Capone, Cornwall, Gotti, graduation, Hudson River, N.Y., New York, New York Military Academy, trump, West Point
