WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is giving his inaugural speech at a military graduation ceremony following his return to power.

The Republican president is set to speak to West Point’s graduating class on Saturday morning.

In 2020, amid the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump delivered the commencement speech at West Point. The president

urged the graduating cadets

To remind everyone “never to forget” the soldiers who battled in a conflict centered around slavery throughout his speech, at a time when the country was grappling with its past concerning racial issues following

murder of George Floyd

in Minneapolis.

Trump likewise honored the military academy’s legacy and its distinguished alumni such as Douglas MacArthur and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The event took place five years prior.

drew scrutiny

due to the U.S. Military Academy mandating that graduating cadets, who were at home because of COVID-19, come back to a region close to a coronavirus hotspot.

Outside of the campus, roughly thirty protesters assembled prior to the event, each holding small American flags. Among them was someone carrying a placard reading “Support Our Veterans” and “Oppose Budget Reductions,” whilst others brandished plastic containers emblazoned with the slogan: “Go Army Defeat Fascism.”

Earlier this month, Trump visited Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he addressed the graduating class at the University of Alabama.

His remarks mixed

standard commencement fare and advice with political attacks against his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, musings about transgender athletes and lies about the 2020 election.

On Friday, Vice President JD Vance spoke to the graduating class at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Vance said in his remarks

Trump aims to guarantee that U.S. troops are sent into action with well-defined objectives instead of the “vague assignments” and “prolonged engagements” characteristic of previous times.