President Trump Delivers a Commencement Address to the United States Coast Guard Academy 2026-05-20 16:18 — Donald Trump

00:00Donald Trump

$15 trillion being invested in our country in 11 months, because the numbers for the 12th have not come up, so that's going to increase it yet further. So that's an honor, it's a great honor, to me that's something special. We're building plants, auto plants, every kind of plant you can imagine all over the country and they're coming in from Canada, they're leaving other countries. They stole our auto business, they stole our chip business, we'll have close to 50% of the chip business by the time I leave and right now we have none practically and we'll have, it was taken by other places, it was taken by Taiwan, I'm not knocking them, I'm saying if they can get away with it, but if you had the right president, that would have never happened, wouldn't have been allowed to have happened. You would have put tariffs on and you said, that's okay, you can steal our business, but if you're going to sell, if you think you're selling those chips back into us with no tax, you can forget it and if we did that, we wouldn't have lost those businesses, the autos, the chips, the semiconductors, we would, all of that would be here, but it's all pouring back into our country right now because of the word tariff as you know, one of my favorite words, I got into big trouble. I said, this is my favorite word in the dictionary, my favorite word, the word tariff and the fake news, look at all of them back there, they said, what about God, what about wife, family, what about other things like Bible? So I was in deep trouble because I said tariff is my favorite, so I made it number five and now I'm okay. Now I'm okay. They think I'm kidding but they gave me a hard time but with your help, we're reasserting one of the most time-honored principles of our national security that the American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will not be threatened under any circumstance. As an example, we will not let Iran have a nuclear weapon, that's all, it's very simple, we will not let that happen. And we have great support, you wouldn't know that by reading the fake news, but we have great support, people don't want them to have a nuclear weapon and they will not have a nuclear weapon and they want to make a deal so badly, we'll see what happens but we hit them very hard but we may have to hit them even harder, but maybe not but we're not going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon and blow up the entire Middle East, Israel, the entire Middle East and then come here for you, not going to happen. So just as no family can be truly secure in a violent neighborhood, we will not allow chaos, instability or danger to fester in America's own backyard, we're not going to let it happen. One of the reasons we have Mark Wayne and one of the reasons that I feel so good about things, he's a tough cookie, you know he was a great fighter too, a great fighter, he was a tough cookie and a very successful fighter and sons are all-American fighters so they have good genetics in that family, but Mark Wayne is a tough guy with a, I always say he's a tough guy with a great heart and that's a good combination. So from the Gulf of America to the frozen waters of the Arctic, from the shores of Havana to the banks of the Panama Canal, we will drive out the forces of lawlessness and crime and foreign encroachment just like we've been doing. You know, we have only 3% coming in, it was, we were getting tremendous, you would understand this because you were involved in this, we're having tremendous amounts of drugs brought in by sea, by ocean, by water and a tremendous amount, a tremendous amount and we've now reduced that to 3%, so it was a big percentage and now it's all the way down to 3% and we've hit them very hard as you know, not that something we wanted to do and we never miss, we never miss, we hit them very hard and actually people are trying to figure out who are the 3% because they happen to be the bravest people perhaps anywhere in the world, the 3% that's left, but I don't even think they have 3%, we've virtually stopped it and now we're going to stop the drugs coming in by land and that's the easy one to do. That's the easy one and I want to thank the Coast Guard because you've been unbelievable in that endeavor. Think of it, we had a majority, we had a majority of drugs were coming in by the sea, by the ocean and we have virtually stopped that and now for the easy part, the land, the much easier and it will be equally quick and we are going to have very, very, drugs are down by 61% but we want to get them down to almost nothing because they've destroyed so many families, so many people, so many lives. Our Coast Guard cutters, our elite tactical teams were the pivotal is enforcing our successful blockade and you just have to see this, we have a blockade that's, they call it the wall of steel, nobody goes through them and you're a big part of it, nobody goes through them, the Navy, the Coast Guard, we have ships that tried to go through and they're saying young captains from Coast Guard Academy, the Naval Academy, Annapolis, and they're saying, do not proceed further, they have the greatest loudspeaker system, much better than this one, let me tell you, it goes over the water, it bounces on the water and you have this young handsome captain saying, do not proceed further, you are in enemy territory, do not proceed further or we will shoot, and you have a ship that's like two football fields long that carries 2 million barrels of oil, think of that, 2 million barrels, and on occasion they'll try and disobey and last week you saw one shot, not a missile shot, a bullet, a very large bullet, a bullet from four miles hit the rudder of the ship and the rudder of the ship fell into the ocean, it was a beautiful thing to see, it just fell in, I said, what the hell kind of a shot was that? And the man said, no, no, we are going back to Iran, see now I say Iran, I don't use because he obvious, he obviously has a correct pronunciation. We will go back to Iran and it took with a broken rudder, with a rudder that was laying at the bottom of the sea, it took 10 miles just to turn that ship back, but nobody violates it, nobody. And I was with as you know, President Xi of China two days ago, we had a tremendous meeting, very successful meeting and he agrees our military is phenomenal, I don't want to go beyond that, but I will tell you, he respects our military tremendously, our military is respected. We have, as I said, the greatest military anywhere in the world and we're going to keep it that way. We have a budget this year of $1.5 trillion, that's the biggest budget we've ever had, that includes the Coast Guard, don't worry about it, look, they're getting a little bit concerned. Don't worry, it includes you, you're going to have so many Coast Guard cutters, you're not going to know what to do with them. You'll have a cutter that's two years old, you say, captain, I want the new one, didn't use to be that way, but you're going to, we have a lot of money coming your way, you know that because of these people and people like them, they made a great case for it and I'm a big fan, so we'll take care of it while I'm here, because we're going to take care of the Coast Guard like you wouldn't believe. And in a flawless, thank you. And in a flawless operation last January, supported by the Coast Guard, America's armed forces captured the outlaw Nicolas Maduro and brought him back to American justice. He's awaiting trial, from Venezuela, an attack that took less than one day and it was an amazing, I think it's one that's going to be studied for a long time. Great, great smart country, very tough military country, but it all took, it really took 48 minutes and 13 seconds to be exact, but let's give it one day and he's now awaiting trial. And now we have a great joint venture with Venezuela. We have millions of barrels of oil coming into Houston and coming into parts of Texas and Louisiana, Alaska and it's been an amazing thing. You know, Venezuela used to be a really great country 20 years ago, then it went, it went the wrong way. It went the way they'd like to take this country, some lunatics would like to take this country way, way left and destroy it, but we're not going to let that happen, we're not letting that happen. This service has also been at the absolute at the, it really the center of the battle to restore sovereign borders for the United States and keep drugs and criminals out of our country and we're keeping them out. Since I took office, the Coast Guard has seized over 206 million lethal doses of illicit narcotics, the most in the history of our country, enough to kill a country, a large country many, many times over and you've seized it and you seized it constantly and you don't play games. Last August, the Coast Guard cutter Hamilton interdicted 76,000 pounds of illegal drugs, the largest Coast Guard drug bust of all time, largest ever, and I'm telling you, the Coast Guard has always been good but you've stepped it up even beyond that. Five cadets graduating today were part of that historic action and I'll mention their names. Elliott Coles, stand up Elliott. Jenna Lewandowski. Piper Stevens. Hannah Warner-Kay. And JJ Banek-Gabal. Thank you. Great job. Thank you very much. The Coast Guard has also played an important role in Operation Epic Fury to ensure that the Iranian regime never obtains a nuclear weapon. Just two months ago off the coast of Malaysia, a highly trained US Coast Guard tactical team helped seize a sanctioned Iranian oil tanker that had been used to transport over a million barrels of oil from Karg Island into the coffers of Iran. We don't want that to happen. This is the third sanctioned Iranian vessel the Coast Guard has helped capture since we began the fighting, the real fighting, with Iran and many more to come, I suspect, unless they get smart. Everywhere you go you say never forget, you represent the most righteous, successful and exceptional nation in all of history and you were really put in a position where you wear the uniform, the most powerful military ever to sail the seas. You are right now at the pinnacle of this nation. You are at the pinnacle. Four years ago, three years ago, I couldn't have said that, I wouldn't have been up here, but I couldn't have said that. You were not at the pinnacle at all. Right now you're at the pinnacle of the Coast Guard, at the pinnacle of the military and that military includes the Coast Guard, will soon be stronger and more powerful than ever before with all of the things we've done. Last year I signed a record-setting $25 billion investment in the Coast Guard, including funding for 22 new cutters, 40 new search and rescue helicopters, 25 state-of-the-art icebreakers, and we're also providing $380 million for renovations and improvements right here at the Academy. The Academy's going to be so beautiful, it's already beautiful, frankly, but it's going to be, it's going to be tippy-top, as I say, it's going to be perfect. Under our leadership, this service is seeing more action than at any time in many decades, I would say at any time period, you've never seen what is happening and the Coast Guard as good as it has been has never seen what's happening to it right now and the spirit has never been higher and I think we can say that, it starts with the leadership, but I think the spirit with the Coast Guard has never been higher than it's been right now. And I got to know a couple of people over the last two weeks from the Coast Guard and I can see why, these are incredibly brilliant people, good people. I have to say I don't want to give them any ideas but in the private sector they'd be making a lot of money and you know what? They wouldn't trade what they're doing. Would you guys trade? For millions a year? Maybe, says maybe, no you wouldn't, I don't think you would. A lot of people would like to be in your position that are doing very well, believe me. In the four years before I took office, the Coast Guard recruitment missed targets by 20 and 25 and 30%, the targets, the recruitment targets and not only you, the Marines, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, that's my baby, I started Space Force. I was very happy, it's going to turn out to be one of the most important of all. But you missed your recruitment numbers and it was an embarrassing time, not only the military, the police, firemen, anybody with a uniform, they didn't want to be associated with our country, frankly. And last year the Coast Guard beat its recruitment goals by 120% and we have so many people wanting to get into the Coast Guard and all levels of the military now that weren't even thinking about it. To me it's one of the most exciting things. When I first came, we had the election on November 5th and it really started from the day of the election but we had the election on November 5th but I will tell you before that you couldn't, you couldn't recruit people to go into the military, nobody wanted to be there, they were trying to reduce standards. Now the standards, I hate to say, are through the roof. But now we have lines of people wanting to get into every group of, whether it's the Navy, the Coast Guard and I will tell you, I looked at the numbers, the Coast Guard in particular, you are, you have exceeded your numbers, you have a waiting list that's a mile long of people that want to get in. So I think I have to say congratulations on that, you know, it's a really big deal. And by the end of my term, we are adding 15,000 new Coast Guardsmen and we're going to have them added to the list because of all the new equipment that we've ordered and it's a true honor to be your Commander-in-Chief. I mean I'm looking at you, I'm glad they get to shake hands of a few of your outstanding people, but every one of you are outstanding. You're in a category that's really very unique, very hard to be, very hard to get there. Now you know even by the recruitment numbers you know it is. But beyond that, it's just a very special group of people and you are a very special group of people. As you begin your important new missions and your mission in life, today let me leave you with a few words of advice to maybe help you a little bit on your way. First, most important, never ever give up. Never give up. They ask me, how do you be successful, sir? Starts with never give up. I've learned a lot about life but the one thing I've really learned is that perseverance, never quitting, never giving up is a big deal. You'll be right there, right at the gate, and you've seen it. You've seen it in sports, they're right there at the gate and they give up. Never give up and whatever happens, no matter where you are in life or what situation you find yourself in, on the seas or anywhere else that you may be, keep pushing forward, always push forward, never stop pushing forward. No matter how terrible the storm, no matter how difficult the mission, never surrender, keep going, keep fighting and make the adversary quit first, let them quit. They're going to quit if you keep going. Second, at this pivotal time of transformation for our armed forces, you have to think big. It's much better, thinking big. Small solutions yield small results. Only big ideas will yield to tremendous change and greatness. Americans do not want to live in a world ruled by someone else's big ideas. Live in a future and shape your future and you want to dominate your future and you want to dominate it for your great military and for your country. Think big. During the course of your Coast Guard careers, it will be a time of incredible change and change is going to happen, change that we can't even think of right now. The things will happen and I believe for the best, hopefully for the best, but I believe for the best, but things will happen that you can't even imagine and it's going to be very exciting, but the way that's going to happen is through thinking big. Nothing great was ever built, think of that, nothing great was ever built without the word momentum at your side. In times of your life, you'll have momentum, that's the time you go for it. I tell stories about people that lost their momentum and they went and it didn't work out well. You know when you're doing well, you know when you have that positive momentum, so take that momentum and go for it. So many people they wait, they wait the wrong time. You know when it's right, go with the momentum. The towering men and women of history have always been people of action. You answered the call to serve and now you need to make sure that most of your time is spent on very important roles in life. You've done a lot and you've had a lot of relaxation, frankly, if you enjoy what you're doing, there's no such thing as work. It's not work. What you're doing, I would say with most of you, it's not work. What you've done is a lot of work, but it's not work. It really isn't, it's a great pleasure. I find myself, I work a lot. They say, he's a workaholic. I'm not a workaholic, it would be tough if I didn't do things. If I didn't do things, I don't know what I'd be doing, it probably wouldn't be good. But you gotta love it and if you love it, it's never considered work. There will always be time for taking the easy path and there'll be times when you want to do that or to settle for maybe a short-term fix but for the best results it'll always be a product of unbelievably hard work. That's why I always sign something. They say, oh, could you put something on, I say, work hard to a young person. Work hard, because you have to work hard, it's so competitive, life is so competitive, you have to work hard, it's never going to come easy, you have to work hard. A lot of great athletes they say, the harder it work, I remember Gary Player, great golfer, he was somewhat smaller than other great athletes and he said, the harder I work, the luckier I get. That was the first time I heard, I've heard that expression a lot but the first time was from the great Gary Player, one of the top three golfers of all time and he said, the harder I work, the luckier I get, it's a great expression. Fourth is as you go and go into life and right here at the Coast Guard, you want to keep your eyes in the boat. You want to have your eyes in the boat, you know what that expression means better than anybody. Do not be distracted by what's outside, you just want to look back and you want to just see what's happening but keep your eyes in the boat. A Coast Guard expression, focus on the task before you and move forward, always, always move forward, never move back. Remember what actually matters and pursuit of success is hot, it really has to be relentless, you've got to be relentless and many of you are relentless, you wouldn't be here if you weren't because there are 10 people for every seat that I'm looking at, 10 people and I think even more than that that wanted that seat and you made it. So finally, you have to be strong, you have to be really strong and I don't mean just with muscle strength, I mean with mental strength and you have to be brave. In your profession, you have a level of bravery that has to supersede a normal person's bravery but that's why you're here. America was not founded by weak and timid men or women who cowered in the face of evil or sat by as danger loomed. As President Theodore Roosevelt said, freedom is not a gift that lasts long in the hands of cowards and weak people. Today our country faces the threats that are very strong but we have a much stronger country today than we had two years ago. Today the threats that looked really bad two years ago, three years ago, we had a country that was rudderless, just like that ship that had its rudder shot off. We have a country now with very strong powerful rudders. But every one of you has your soul, the strength and courage to face whatever comes before you. You're going to do unbelievably well, I mean just have no idea, I'm looking at, I look at audiences all the time, but I'm looking at this audience, it's just an incredible group of people, a beautiful, beautiful brilliant group of people. So you're brave and you're bold and you're always ready to go and you inherit the legacy of some of the most daring and intrepid Americans ever to live. You are inheriting the mantle of some of the bravest people, some of the most incredible warriors ever, right here. A tradition of pride and glory and greatness passed down from one generation to the Coast Guard heroes to the next. You had great heroes. In World War II the Coast Guard was the first branch of the military to seize a Nazi vessel and take enemy prisoners. The first one to do it was the Coast Guard. The first branch to traverse the Northwest Passage and the first to sail a ship right up the middle of the frigid seas to the North Pole. You were the first, you were the first to do so much and that's not going to change. And now you have equipment, I think we can say definitely when that all that new equipment comes in Admiral, you have equipment the likes of which the Coast Guard has never had before so you'll have many ships sailing up instead of one, you're going to be doing things that nobody even thought possible. You are, you have on order, some of it's already delivered, but you have on order the best equipment anywhere in the world. There's no other Coast Guard, there's no other frankly Navy that has anything like what's coming your way. On September 11, 2001, amid the rubble, dust and debris, it was the Coast Guard that organized the largest boat lift in all of history, evacuating half a million people from lower Manhattan. That was a terrible day. The gleaming white hulls and the blazing red stripes of your cutters have sliced through the horizon of nearly every major waterway on Earth. Everyday Coast Guard members plunge into pitch-black oceans, rush onto roaring surfs and do battle with Mother Nature at her absolute worst, Mother Nature like few can imagine it even exists and I've seen it. I've seen things and I said, nobody's going into that storm and you guys go into it like it's just another day of work. You fly into gale force winds, smash into 50-foot waves, storm into floods of fire and shrapnel and swarm through water so cold that it will snap a ship in half with just the wrong hit of a wave. But your fellow Americans and above all you're from the Coast Guard. There's nothing absolutely nothing that a Coast Guardsman cannot do. There really isn't, I've seen so much. I mean as president I've just seen so much, I've seen people that were going to be decimated, that were going to be destroyed in the sea. I told you about some of the hurricanes, they were out at sea, they were boating and they got caught. They wanted to go a little closer, a little closer, a little closer, and then they got gobbled up by nature and the only way they could have survived with what you people were able to do. You went in there and you got them and it wasn't easy, it was very dangerous. No matter how perilous the task, you're unafraid and you're you're just an unstoppable force and you want to stay that way. The US Coast Guard has never ever let us down. And with men and women like the great class of 2026, I know that will never happen. You're going to go on to greatness the likes of which even the Coast Guard has not seen. So wherever the duty calls, whatever danger comes our way, you will fight fight fight and you will win win win. I want to just say a very strong God bless the Coast Guard Academy, the class of 2026, God bless the United States Military and God bless the United States of America. Thank you very much. Have a great, great and stellar career. Thank you very much everybody. Thank you.