In Alabama Commencement Speech, Trump Mixes In the Political

He urged the audience of college students not to think they were too young to accomplish great things, before waxing on about tariffs.“Don’t try to be someone else,” he implored them, after attacking due process for unauthorized immigrants.

And he told them not to think of themselves as victims, before diverting into how the 2020 election was “rigged” against him.On Thursday night, President Trump addressed the 2025 graduates of the University of Alabama, vacillating between campaign rally material and a commencement speech as he used his past political grievances to encourage students to fight for their futures.Addressing the students at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, flanked by signs that read “The American Dream Is Back,” Mr.Trump told students they were “the first graduating class of the golden age of America,” and used his comeback story to encourage the students to trust their instincts and be ambitious as they navigate the world.“In recent years, too many of our young people have really been taught to think of themselves as victims, and blame people, and be angry,” he said.

“But in America, we reject that idea that anyone is born a victim.Our heroes are the ones who take charge of their own destiny, make their own luck and determine their own fate, despite the odds.”At points in the address, the president rattled off familiar advice for college graduates.

But Mr.Trump — who acknowledged that he did not use his teleprompter for much of the speech — veered off into various rants that echoed the blitz of political appearances he has put in this week to celebrate his 100th day in office.

The largely receptive crowd often cheered at the scattershot injection of issues from the price of eggs to transgender rights, a microcosm of an era when even the pablum of a graduation speech cannot escape the politics of the moment.Some of Mr.Trump’s stories focused on how he himself had been victimized throughout his political career, from...