NEW LONDON, Conn. — Addressing a graduating class entering military service during a period of intensifying global instability, President Donald Trump told newly commissioned Coast Guard officers Wednesday that they would play a key role in both defending the homeland and advancing what he called America’s “national resurgence.”
“Every branch of our armed forces protects American lives, but the Coast Guard is the only service explicitly dedicated to saving them,” Trump said during the commencement ceremony at the United States Coast Guard Academy. “You never leave an American behind, and you never would.”
Trump framed the Coast Guard’s mission as central to several of his administration’s domestic priorities, including border enforcement, combating drug trafficking and cracking down on illegal immigration.
And in the tradition of commencement speeches, he offered advice to the graduates that reflected his own life.
“Wherever the duty call, whatever danger comes your way, you will fight, fight, fight, and you will win, win, win,” Trump said.
“Never stop pushing forward,” he told the graduates. “Never surrender, keep fighting, keep going.”
Trump briefly mentioned the war with Iran, now in its 12th week, praising the Coast Guard’s role in helping to enforce the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and suggesting, as he has often done throughout the conflict, that it will soon end either through military action or a negotiated agreement.
“The only question is: Are we going to go in and finish it up, or are they going to be signing a document?” Trump said. Later in the address, he vowed that the United States would “not let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump’s address to newly emerging members of the military comes at a fraught moment, as the United States is in its third month of conflict with Iran, and it remains unclear whether a fragile ceasefire will hold. On Monday, Trump said he had called off planned U.S. strikes on Iran after leaders from three Middle Eastern countries urged him to allow more time for negotiations.
The decision marked the latest abrupt shift from Trump since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28.
U.S. forces continue to enforce the blockade against Iranian vessels to pressure Iran to reach a settlement acceptable to the United States.
At the same time, the Justice Department is preparing to seek an indictment against former Cuban president Raúl Castro — a move that has intensified tensions with the communist-run island just 90 miles from the U.S. mainland.
Trump’s address to Coast Guard cadets follows the long-standing tradition of presidents speaking at military academy graduations. It will be the only service academy commencement he attends this year. Vice President JD Vance, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, is scheduled to deliver next week’s commencement address at the United States Air Force Academy.
Trump has often used military academy speeches not only to congratulate graduates but to project broader political and geopolitical themes.
Last year, he used a commencement speech at the United States Military Academy to highlight sweeping cultural and policy changes underway in the military during his second term. By the time of the speech, the administration had moved aggressively to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at West Point, including eliminating affinity clubs for women and minority students, and directing faculty to remove terms such as “systemic racism” and “feminist” from some course materials and syllabi.
In his first term, Trump’s 2017 commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy became nationally notable after he used the speech to lament his treatment by the media and political establishment.
That address came at a moment early in Trump’s first term as Washington was consumed by investigations into Russian election interference and possible ties between Trump associates and Moscow. Just days earlier, the Justice Department had appointed special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to oversee the probe following Trump’s firing of FBI director James B. Comey.
“Look at the way I’ve been treated lately — especially by the media,” Trump told cadets at the time. “No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse.”
On Wednesday, he took a more subdued tone, praising the Coast Guard and linking its goals with his own aims. He lauded the service’s role in the mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and stopping the influx of narcotics into the United States.
“I’m telling you, the Coast Guard has always been good, but you’ve stepped it up even beyond that,” he said.
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