Opinion: Trump’s West Point speech serves as a reminder of his unique appeal

Cadets listen as President Donald Trump seen on screen speaks to United States Military Academy graduating cadets during commencement ceremonies in West Point N Y Saturday May Photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta Associated Press President Donald Trump s up-to-date commencement speech at the U S Military Academy at West Point surprised no one regarding the manner of its delivery or content In typical Trump style the speech rambled incoherently from one subject to another It sounded more fitting as a campaign rally rant than a speech worthy of such a dignified and historical non-partisan setting Delivered while wearing a red MAGA hat the speech touched on trophy wives Levittown and gangster Al Capone while Trump bragged about real and purported accomplishments as president However the speech should not be absolutely laughed off or scorned by critics for I contend there are two parts of President Trump s speech that effectively remind political aficionados why he has proven such a formidable candidate and chief executive vis- -vis the Democratic Party opposition These two parts reveal first the degree to which his supporters are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to taking personal credit for supposed accomplishments and second how he can so cleverly cultivate a sense of cynicism when it comes to addressing realities normally associated with expert knowledge and advancements For example in one segment of the commencement address Trump gave himself credit for the U S military s current improvement in recruiting numbers claiming In the modern day morale in the armed forces is soaring to the highest levels in a large number of decades after years of recruiting shortfalls And we had years and years of recruiting shortfalls and just last year was the worst of all the last year of the Biden administration We couldn t get anybody to join our military And right now just less than a year later we just set a brand new peacetime recruiting record The the greater part largest part people joined We had the the majority best recruiting month that we ve had in memory Nobody remembers anything like it And that s all because they have spirit now His taking credit for a surge in recruitment is a very specific claim not one of his typical generalizations delivered in other parts of his speech like When I left office four years ago we had no wars we had no problems we had nothing but success We had the the majority incredible commercial sector the greatest single greatest commercial sector for a president in history Since his recruitment claim is so specific this attempt to claim sole credit should be easily challenged by political opponents After all a couple days after the commencement address the media disclosed the surge in enlistments has veritably coincided not with a patriotic fervor brought about by a Trump electoral preeminence but with a major increase in the use of military enlistment bonuses with the Department of Defense spending more than billion over the past three years on recruiting and retention incentives These expensive incentives programs were planned and put into operation during the Biden administration and the surge in recruitment began long before the November voting process The Department of Defense is not an agency known for turning direction on a dime rather it routinely plans in three- or four-year timeframes Trump certainly knows this but rightly assumes the majority of the masses does not Accordingly Trump aggressively takes credit his followers believe him and the majority outrageous aspect of his bragging is that based on their past track record the Democratic Party leadership will in all likelihood fail to remind Americans of his enlistment surge untruth They will make no systematic communications effort to counter it with evidence that dramatically captures the interest of voters Trump will in turn continue to control the narrative and politically benefit from repeating the deception over and over again The second part of Trump s West Point speech worth examining relates to his ability to raise questions about what various of us consider to be proven scientific or technical advancements While addressing the state of U S military readiness Trump in a seemingly off-handed manner commented And we are buying you new airplanes brand-new beautiful planes redesigned planes brand-new planes totally stealth planes I hope they re stealth I don t know that whole stealth thing I m sorta wondering You mean if we shape a wing this way they don t see it but the other way they see it I m not so sure In making this comment Trump slyly displayed his habit of casting doubt on what any rationally thinking individual would consider the reality of a certain aspect of science in this situation the long established reality of stealth machinery In doing so he was making a clever appeal to his MAGA followers who are all too willing to challenge experts or intellectual elites in any field whether they be Dr Anthony Fauci economists warning against a tariff war scientists touting vaccines or dentists advocating for fluoride Does Trump really doubt the reality of stealth equipment Supposedly not but this I m not so sure dog whistle intended for the Trump true believer cynics especially those already eager to fall for the next conspiracy theory helps maintain the proper mindset for MAGA supporters so that someday in the future they will not think twice about attacking experts offering recommendations in conflict with perceived MAGA wisdom Democratic Party leaders continue to appear totally flummoxed when it comes to formulating effective strategies on how to counter Trump s aggressive actions and subsequently turn the tables on his popularity with voters As his West Point speech points out there is no mystery regarding how he goes about cultivating his popular endorsement Two solutions involve routinely claiming false credit for achievements and getting away with it while also questioning experts and intellectuals in a cynical populist manner We have seen it time and again What exactly is stopping the Democratic leaders from devising a winning scheme to counter his methods remains the true mystery Steve Rodriguez is a retired Marine Corps officer and high school professor who last taught at Olympian High School in Chula Vista