FOREIGN POLICY/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump declared on Friday [5-25-18] that America is ‘respected again’ because of a military that is ‘a lot stronger,’ as he welcomed the 2018 graduates of the Naval Academy into what he called ‘the most powerful and rightful force on the planet.’ Presidents often use the annual commencement addresses at the country’s military academies to tout their foreign policy successes, urging the next generation of military officers to embrace the commander-in-chief’s vision of a world worthy of protecting. Mr. Trump did that, saying — without specifics — that the new naval officers and Marines should be proud to be joining a military that he said is now recovering from years of shrinkage and decay…Mr. Trump’s predecessors have also used the commencements to confront the challenges of foreign policy, diplomacy and war. In 2002, after the Sept. 11 attacks the previous year, President George W. Bush announced a policy of pre-emptive war during his address at the Army’s West Point commencement. Mr. Trump made no mention of broad foreign policy issues or specific challenges that the country faces abroad, including the collapse of his efforts at international diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula.”
-Michael D. Shear, “Trump Tells Naval Academy Graduates That America Is ‘Respected Again’,” The New York times online, May 25, 2018