Trump at West Point and the Gettysburg Address

[_MeDotOrg]

President Donald Trump has decided to address this year's graduating class at West Point. 1,000 Cadets will all have to travel 60 miles north of the Pandemic's epicenter to hear an address in person from their Commander in Chief.

A West Point Graduate asked: Cui Bono? Who benefits?

This action is the essence of how Donald Trump views the Presidency. He simply does not care about the distinction between style and substance, between steak and sizzle, governance and campaigning. And in this case it means he is literally willing to use the graduating class at West Point as a prop for his ego.

With the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any president that’s ever held this office.

So America will hear their second greatest President address the newly-minted graduates. Their first act of service to their country? Serving as a backdrop for the President's re-election.

By the time the cameraman assigned to take a picture of Lincoln during his speech at Gettysburg was set, Lincoln had finished his speech and was leaving the stage.



Abe did not have a media advisor at the event. I doubt Trump will make the same mistake.

[_Jersey Girl]

Explain something to me. Why didn't the media make the same fuss over the United States Air Force Academy graduation this year? Because it's Trump? Because the grads are having to return? One thousand cadets from the USAFA graduating class remained on base this year after the underclassmen were sent home. The graduation ceremony took place about a month earlier than usual.

Vice President Mike Pence delivered the address.

Trump didn't pull this out of his ass. He's following the normal rotation schedule of speakers. So what's the big hairy deal? The US Military Academy chose to send the grads home. The USAFA chose to retain the graduating class on base. Same class size.

Both Trump and Pence are following the rotation. And so what? What am I missing?

[_Jersey Girl]

She ain't done yet! So the gist of what I'm seeing in the press is that Trump is using the grads for political purposes. Know what I think? I think that no one gives a rock solid damn about our military grads unless Trump is involved. Pence already spoke at the USAFA graduation on the 18th. Was that on anyone's radar?

No, of course not.

From where I sit, it's the press that's exploiting the US Military Academy graduation exercises. Not Trump. I find it sickening and an insult to our military grads. I'd bet that 95% of Americans who are being suckered in by this crap don't even KNOW there's a speaker's rotation.

What's that bit about them having to travel 60 miles north of the epicenter? Please don't insult them like that's asking too much from them. They have to travel within CONUS to their own graduation? They're going to be commissioned to travel the globe and put their lives on the line for god sakes.

I think I just had one of those hair fires.

[_EAllusion]

It's a big deal Jersey Girl because a large number of cadets are being forced to travel to near the center of a deadly epidemic, then quarantine after, so Trump can make a speech that easily could be cancelled or done remotely. In-person commencement speeches aren't a necessity and you'll find that they're almost all being cancelled or done remotely. At best, he's going to inconvenience a lot of people for no meaningful benefit. At worse, he's going to kill some more people. The very nature of what occurring will function as a campaign stunt, and since Trump has a long history of co-opting traditional non-partisan events for crude propaganda displays, the odds that'll be even worse than that default are high.

The reporting understands that this is a normally given in-person speech, but is complaining that it isn't being cancelled like every other responsible university is doing or will be doing.

[_moksha]

The cadets will have to travel to West Point 14 days ahead of time to undergo quarantine. All this to hear an off-script attack on the media and other jumbled thoughts that Trump has at that moment.

[_Chap]

The cadets will have to travel to West Point 14 days ahead of time to undergo quarantine. All this to hear an off-script attack on the media and other jumbled thoughts that Trump has at that moment.

That seems to sum it up quite neatly.

What's that bit about them having to travel 60 miles north of the epicenter? Please don't insult them like that's asking too much from them. They have to travel within CONUS to their own graduation? They're going to be commissioned to travel the globe and put their lives on the line for god sakes.

Trump wants some kind of 'Presidential' platform to strut on, in the hope that it may boost his support amongst his base. So all the cadets graduating are mere cannon fodder to his ego.

Now these are not officers of the German army in the 1930s, who were made to swear an oath of personal obedience to Adolf Hitler. They are citizen-soldiers in what is still, formally at least, a democracy. The oath they swear is:

I ___, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Nothing there about helping the President get re-elected, so far as I can see ...

[_huckelberry]

Abe's media advisors? The media then was newspapers. Mr Lincoln presented something that would be read around the country.

[_Jersey Girl]

It's a big deal Jersey Girl because a large number of cadets are being forced to travel to near the center of a deadly epidemic, then quarantine after, so Trump can make a speech that easily could be cancelled or done remotely. In-person commencement speeches aren't a necessity and you'll find that they're almost all being cancelled or done remotely. At best, he's going to inconvenience a lot of people for no meaningful benefit. At worse, he's going to kill some more people. The very nature of what occurring will function as a campaign stunt, and since Trump has a long history of co-opting traditional non-partisan events for crude propaganda displays, the odds that'll be even worse than that default are high.

The reporting understands that this is a normally given in-person speech, but is complaining that it isn't being cancelled like every other responsible university is doing or will be doing.

The USMA cadets were already scheduled to return in May for graduation. It's now extended to June.

If you think Trump is co-opting the event for propaganda purposes then why has there been no criticism here of Pence who delivered the USAFA commencement speech in person with the same size graduating class?

It's because it wasn't even on anyone's radar here until Trump was involved. That's why.

And I don't think it very wise to raise the issue of inconvenience when discussing the US armed forces. But that's just me.

[Guest]

I understand that it was Trump's year to address West Point. The original address was scheduled for May 23rd. Cadets knew that they would be coming back to Campus at some point. My point is that having the entire class assemble at the same time creates a greater risk for the Cadets. Again, Who benefits?

Given the exact same circumstances Jersey Girl, do you really think Obama, Bush 45, Clinton, Bush 43, Reagan, Carter or Ford would address the Cadets?

And I don't think it very wise to raise the issue of inconvenience when discussing the US armed forces.

Inconvenience? No. Safety? Yes.

[_Chap]

I don't think it very wise to raise the issue of inconvenience when discussing the US armed forces.

Like any half-way decent armed forces, the US forces are no doubt prepared to suffer a great deal of 'inconvenience' to do their sworn duty, including risking death or serious injury.

That does not mean that their time and energy should be wasted on serving as stage properties for the President's re-election campaign.