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Trump forces 1000 West Point seniors to return to New York for a June address. Twitter explodes.

Trump's "verbal gaffes" and other horrible things he's said

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If there’s one thing Trump likes, it’s the sound of his own voice. In fact, he likes it so much that he thinks everyone should hear it.

The latest testament to Trump’s ego? Publicly announcing that he’ll be speaking at the United States Military Academy in West Point’s graduation ceremony … before anyone at West Point had even decided if they’d be holding commencement or not.

Unfortunately, West Point, like many schools amid the coronavirus crisis, already sent its students home. So now, 1,000 seniors have to travel back to their New York campus so that Trump can have his live audience.

Not to be upstaged…

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U.S. Dept of Defense

Trump announced that he’d be speaking at West Point on Friday, April 17, after being asked about Pence’s upcoming trip to Colorado. Pence was heading there to give the commencement address at the Air Force Academy, whose seniors had remained on campus.

According to the New York Times, authorities at West Point were “taken aback” by Trump’s words.

Said Sue Fulton, who graduated from West Point and used to run their Board of Visitors,

He’s the commander in chief, that’s his call… But everyone is leery about bringing 1,000 cadets into the New York metropolitan area for a ceremony. It’s definitely a risk.

Will social distancing measures be enough?

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Returning cadets will be tested for coronavirus before they officially make it to campus. If their results are negative, they’ll be monitored for two weeks. Officials aren’t sure yet if each of the 1,000 seniors will have their own room, but there will be preventative measures in place, like requiring students to wear masks and to be spread out at mealtime.

But with students coming back from all over the country, it’s hard to say if those precautions will actually help. Orange County, where West Point is located, has over 8,000 coronavirus cases. And it’s likely that many returning cadets will have to travel through New York City, which is at over 150,000 cases.

Trump’s words draw Twitter’s ire

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Screenshot / YouTube

Many Twitter users are panning Trump for putting his ego ahead of students’ safety.

That includes West Point grads:

And U.S. senators:

Getting his rally

Trump Rally

Flickr/The Epoch Times

This veteran makes a fine point:

The similarities between Trump’s commencement speeches and his rallies were pointed out:

In a different light…

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And one Huffington Post reporter made a particularly good point about how ridiculous the whole situation is:

If you believe this, we’ve got a bridge for sale

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Flickr / Gage Skidmore

Of course, Trump claims that West Point totally always intended for him to speak in person, no matter how bad the situation got:

There’s that “they” again…

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