Watch: West Point Crowd Cheers as Trump Uses Biblical Imagery About Combating the Devil in Commencement Address

President Donald Trump employed biblical language about overcoming the devil to the roaring approval of the audience while delivering a commencement address at West Point Saturday.

Trump noted right at the outset of his speech to the approximately 1,000 cadets of the Class of 2025 that he had gone to high school very close by at the New York Military Academy, where he was named captain of cadets and captain of the varsity baseball team during his senior year of 1964.

“I’ve been here [to West Point] many times, going to high school, not so far away. Good, a good place. Also, a military academy. Not quite of this distinction, but it was a lot of fun for me,” the president said of his boarding school experience.

Donald Trump. Captain the Cadets at the New York Military Academy. pic.twitter.com/SbEpjNFm4L

— West (@Westskyever) December 2, 2024

Trump told the West Point cadets, “As you receive your commissions as Second Lieutenants, each of you continues down the same hallowed path walked by the titans and legends of U.S. Military lore.

“Giants like Ulysses S. Grant, John ‘Black Jack’ Pershing, Dwight David Eisenhower, the one and only Douglas MacArthur, old blood and guts, George Patton, and Stormin’ Norman Schwarzkopf, all great.”

🇺🇸🦅President Donald Trump Addresses the West Point Class of 2025:

“In a few moments, you will become graduates of the most elite and storied military academy in human history, and you will become officers in the greatest and most powerful army the world has ever known.” pic.twitter.com/kKrHGlFphA

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 24, 2025

The president also commended the students for the choice they made to attend the academy, which was founded by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802.

“Each of you on the field today is among the most talented members of your generation. You could have done anything you wanted. You could have gone anywhere. You could have gone to any school. This is one of the hardest schools to get into,” he said.

“You chose honor and you chose sacrifice. And, instead of business suits and dress shoes, you chose muddy boots and fatigues, keeping yourself in shape, because West Point cadets don’t just have the brightest minds, you also have the bravest hearts and the noblest souls,” Trump added.

.@POTUS at West Point: “You could have done anything you wanted… Instead of stock options… you chose honor and you chose sacrifice. Instead of business suits and dress shoes, you chose muddy boots and fatigues… You’re amazing people.” pic.twitter.com/SRi05anFw4

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 24, 2025

The president later in the address spoke of the Army soldiers that West Point graduates lead, saying, “Our soldiers have sprinted through storms of bullets, clouds of shrapnel, slogged through miles of dirt and oceans of sand, scaled towering cliffs of jagged rock.”

Then, using biblical imagery, he said, “And, time and time again, the American soldier has charged into the fires of hell and sent the devil racing in full retreat.” The crowd roared with approval and applause.

“No task has ever been too tough for America’s Army. And now that 250-year legacy of glory and triumph belongs to you, the 1,000 newest officers of the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.”

In the Bible, Jesus told Peter that upon the rock of revelation of seeing who Christ truly was and his mission on earth, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

During his speech, Trump also highlighted the change in policies, noting that transgender and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are out.

“Promotions and appointments will not be based on politics or identity. They’ll be based on merit. We won that case in the Supreme Court of the United States. We’re allowed to go back to a system of merit. We’re a merit-based country again,” he said.

The commander in chief further pointed out that recruitment has skyrocketed since he was elected and appointed Pete Hegseth secretary of defense.

Trump began to draw his remarks to a close, borrowing wording from Gen. MacArthur’s famous farewell, “Duty, Honor, Country” speech to the corps of cadets in 1962.

“America’s army has never failed us, and with leaders like the West Point class of 2025, the Army will never fail,” he said.

MacArthur told the cadets, “The Long Gray Line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.”

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