Donald Trump ranted to a captive audience of graduating West Point cadets about military drag shows, urging the students to focus on killing America’s enemies.
“The job of the U.S. armed forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures, but to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun,” the president said. “The military’s job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America anywhere, anytime, and anyplace.”
While college commencement addresses are usually a chance to celebrate the graduates’ achievements, the more than a thousand West Point cadets and their families were treated to a recounting of Trump’s war on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the military.
“The job of the U.S. armed forces is… to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun,”
You can start at home.
I loved how he kept calling people up to congratulate for records, and he’d let them speak and they all said “I love my friends” and stepped down. You could see him taken aback, like he thought they were going to glaze him
It was also wild to see him start out giving a normal commencement speech… Then suddenly it was like the meds wore off, he froze for a second, and he just started doing his normal rants. And that was like a quarter of the way in
“Spread democracy at the point of a gun”
Let’s be clear that THAT’S the bigger takeaway here.
Edit: it seems to be that he meant that they would no longer spread democracy at the point of a gun
A USA today article seems to dispute this slightly. It’s a minor tweak but in the sake of fairness it completely changes the interpretation.
“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,” he said. “The military’s job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America, anywhere, anytime and any place.”
Does anyone know whether he said “but spread democracy…” or “and spread democracy…”?
If the former like this post suggests, then it is indeed another notch in Trump’s belt of horrific quotes that would get any other politician at any other time in American history vilified. If the latter like USA Today is reporting then he seems to be arguing that the US military’s role is not to “spread democracy at the point of a gun.”
In Helldivers today I played around with someone with the username Democrussy Spreader. Funny a saw these words together twice.
He said “but to spread democracy.”
OP’s says “but to”, this one says “and”. Now that’s a different number of syllables. We’re really starting to stretch how much something can be misheard.
I’ll give him credit and say it’s “and” since that would make more sense in the flow of the sentence. He’s a terrible orator, so even the basic things said by him can be confusing. Not a fan of the heavy hand of military, but Eisenhower warned us we’d get like this. A strong defense is a good offense, but I think the US politically, economically, and even socially embraces that a little too much through history, and we definitely have war hawks in control right now.
What Eisenhower “warned” us about happened within his lifetime. I put warned in quotes because it was really already happening, so more of an observation than a prediction.
to be fair, anything (any thing) a state does is under threat of violence. be it from “spreading democracy” or not paying your taxes because you disagree with how your town of 12k is spending.
a state cannot “rule” without violence.
He said “or” not “but”. Just listened to confirm. The transcript is wrong and completely flips the meaning of that sentence.
Then you are deaf. He definitely said “but to”.
I had to reread it to make sure it was a quote. Holy fucking shit.
An with the new basically enabling act having recently passed…this brings on a whole new meaning.
When the tools of peace are taken away, the only resort are the weapons of… Well, I don’t want to get ahead if myself…
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make… something else happen, I forgot what it was!
CHRISTIAN “democracy.” The sword and the sermon.
Kind of forgetting the democracy part of that, it’s mostly gunpoint atm
Guys calm down he just making a Helldiver’s reference
I’d like to know more.
Sounds like something straight from Helldivers.
Hey said “or”, not “but”. Just listened to the audio to confirm. The transcript is wrong and flips the meaning of his statement.
You are deaf.
Weird. I thought the military’s job was to deter war through a readiness to fight.
I mean, on paper and during recruiting maybe, but not really.
but to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun
Wow, well that’s a take. It’s literally some shit you’d hear from Team America: World Police.
While abandoning democracy at home.
What a disgusting people.
He said “or” not “but”. Just listened to the audio to confirm. The transcript is wrong and flips the meaning of that sentence.
Just listened to it twice. He says “but”
He said or. You are hearing what you want to here. But doesn’t even make sense in the context of the statement.
He 100% said but
Someone here is hearing what they want to.
Trump is the literal worst thing to happen to American politics in living memory, and I can’t stand his stupid fucking evil face. Why would I want to whitewash his speech? What I want is for people not to freak out over literally mishearing his words and make a big deal out of nothing.
I listened to it three times. He said “or”. It is not the clearest “or” to ever be uttered because the man cannot fucking speak correctly. But it certainly wasn’t “but”. There are absolutely thousands of statements he has said that are objectively racist, sexist, hateful, moronic and hypocritical that we can and should be mad about on top of all the other shit to be mad about regarding Trump. Hell even within this same sentence there is shit to be mad about with the drag disparaging. But that one phrase is not one of them.
If you want him to double down on if he wants them to be spreading democracy by pointing a gun, just ask him. He’ll happily oblige. You know it.
The man’s demented. He’s seriously ill. Look at his clown makeup for the love of fuck! What halfway-well person does that and can’t finish a thought?
Oh absolutely. He’ll say whatever he thinks his supporters in the room want him to say. He doesn’t give a shit what he says.
I bet that ceremony show became a drag. Or Trump wouldn’t have worn makeup.
I know an American enemy that needs to be dominated. And I’m not talking about being spanked with a Forbes magazine.
I mean if there’s time maybe a little bit but the other kind of domination is of higher priority
Sounds like a good way to get shit on.
Trump loves men hence the insecurity around drag
Drag shows are actually part of US military history
NCD in shambles :'/
What about domestic terrorist trying to systematically destroy our nation by removing our rights, diminishing our health, sell our national secrets to the highest bidder, deporting American citizens to death camps, and arguable killing more American citizens than any conflict we’ve seen since WWII (COVID under Trump - and more to come). Can they point their guns at him?
And a plurality of the nation still think he’s a brilliant, capable business wizard?
Not just sad but #FuckingSad
yep he’s still a moron
unhinged dictator gives bigoted speech to bigoted graduates hoping to become war criminals some day.
news at 11.
Tell me more about your knowledge of service academy cadets and midshipmen and their personally-held beliefs. Do you work at or near a service academy? How many interactions with cadets have you had in your lifetime? Curious to know why you believe them to be so bigoted.
The cadets that graduated this May enrolled four years ago under a different administration, for what it’s worth.
this is an all volunteer military. known for actively supporting genocide and has a history of invasion and war crimes. this history goes back to the beginning. far more than 4 years ago.
ANYONE WHO WILLINGLY SIGNS UP FOR THAT HORSESHIT IS COMPLICIT. Full. Fucking. Stop. No matter how much they enjoy college.
While I admire your passion, I’d love to see you broaden your perspective and capacity for nuance. You might be surprised at the diversity of thought found among the cadet and officer corps of the US military. If a strong resistance to fascism were to materialize, some of these officers may prove to be the best associates and allies. Lumping them all into the genocidal bigot bin would probably be a misstep for the long term subversive civilian element.
fair fair points as I can imagine, in a perfect world, some cohort will cleave off and be on the “right side” of the impending civil war.
but from who I have met — they’ll just not deploy and then become local cops pretending they’re “in country” or whatever while they bully local homeless folk.
So the transcript is incorrect. I just listened to the audio to confirm. He did not say “The job of the U.S. armed forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures, but to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun”. He said "“The job of the U.S. armed forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures, or to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun”. It entirely changes the meaning of that sentence. Fuck Trump, but let’s make sure that information is correct before jumping on it.
The quote starts after a very awkward applause break at 2:14. He very clearly says but.
No he did not. He said “but”. Quit your historical revisionism.
Don’t make me personally listen to the fucking speech
Yeah. Thats what I said when I read that other guy’s comment.
Just listened again. He said or. But doesn’t even make sense in context with his following statement.
Did you listen to the audio yourself?
Yes I did. Because that other dude said there was a discrepancy.
Well there’s multiple people saying he says “or” and about an equal number thinking he said “but” so I’d say it’s open to interpretation. With anyone else I’d give them the benefit of the doubt, but with Rump, the worst way he could have meant it is probably the most accurate
Edit: Welp, I just listened to it and he clearly said “or”, so you’re full of shit or need your hearing checked
There’s only one dude, and you, saying “or”. I haven’t listened to it because I can’t stand his stupid voice or the way he speaks, so I’m not working in on that, just the discussion.
