PULSE POINTS:

❓What Happened: President Donald J. Trump delivered a commencement address at the University of Alabama.

👥 Who’s Involved: President Trump, University of Alabama graduates, university officials, family members, and Alabama political figures including Governor Kay Ivey (R) and Senator Tommy Tuberville (R).

📍 Where & When: The speech occurred at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Thursday.

💬 Key Quote: “You’re the first graduating class of the Golden Age of America,” Trump told the graduates, highlighting his view of the current period as a time of renewal.

⚠️ Impact: The speech framed America, 250 years after the Revolution, as being in the midst of another rebellion against a political establishment rejected by voters in the 2024 election.

IN FULL:

President Donald J. Trump spoke Thursday at the University of Alabama’s commencement, commending them as the inaugural graduates of “the Golden Age of America.”

“Now, exactly 250 years after the first patriots stood and fought at Lexington and Concord, we’re in the midst of another kind of revolution—a revolution of winning and a revolution of common sense,” the America First leader said, declaring that “the spirit of our age is one of boldness, vigor, ambition, and adventure.”

“And it’s exciting to be you—and young. Oh, I’d pay you a lot of money to have your age,” he joked, promising the graduates “a great future.”

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READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Thank you, Coach. Wow, what a nice-looking group this is. What a beautiful group of people. And especially a very big hello to the University of Alabama. Congratulations to the class of 2025. Roll Tide.

There are things that happen in life that are very important, and you always remember where you were when they happened. As a student at Alabama, you’ll always remember where you were when your head coach, Nick Saban, retired. Remember that? Because he’s done such a fantastic job. The last time I was here—and that’s true with Nick—what a great coach. Let’s bring him back. No, you have a good coach right now, though. I had a good coach right down. He was great. But the last time I was here, the Crimson Tide beat the Georgia Bulldogs, 41 to 33. I was here, I got to watch it. That was some game.

Today it’s my pleasure to return to this campus as the first president ever to deliver the keynote commencement address to this truly great American university. It’s a great school. And there’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Titletown, USA. That’s what it’s become. And I love this place. Maybe it’s because I won Alabama by 45 points. Could that be the reason? You know, the way they say, like, the polls have closed in Alabama, Trump has won Alabama immediately. It was very quick. It’s very, very quick and nasty. That’s what we like.

They put all seven of your commencement ceremonies—I don’t know if you know this—but they put them all together. First time ever. So I better do well, or I’m in big trouble. But I want to thank President Bell for his 10 years of distinguished service. Highly respected gentleman. Ten years of service to this great university, overseeing the education of 100,000 proud Alabama graduates. That’s something to have on your record.

I also want to thank Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, who’s here with us. I just took a picture. I said, you’re doing a great job. Along with a very wonderful man, a friend of mine, Senator Tommy Tuberville. Where’s Tommy? When he wanted to run for the Senate, you know, I said, well, you beat Alabama six times in a row. How can you run for Senate? He said, well, I just look at them and say, well I was responsible for them getting Nick Saban. I said, that’s a good reason. And he won very easily. He won. But I’ll never forget that.

Thanks also to a wonderful person, Representative Lisa McLean—a great person, highly respected. Gary Palmer, Robert Aderholt, Dale Strong, Ronnie Jackson, Ralph Norman, along with Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen—great people. Alabama Senate President Pro Tem Garland Gudger, Chancellor Sid Trant, and members of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees.

But most importantly, and they would agree with this, let’s give a big round of applause to your incredible parents, grandparents, and family members. Because they made this wonderful day possible. Are you great without them? It doesn’t happen without them. You probably aren’t here, and you wouldn’t have that big, beautiful smile on your faces.

This year, the graduating Alabama class of 2025 has over 6,600 graduates. You’re the largest class in school history. Among your ranks are 800 first-generation college students and nearly 3,000 students from right here in the great state of Alabama. Amazing.

This class also includes many Rhodes Scholars, Goldwater Scholars, 213 Merit Scholars, and over 1,500 students graduating with red caps. You know what that signifies? 4.0 GPA. That’s a lot of students. That’s pretty good. I know who I’d pick. I’d look for a red cap. I’d say, I want you to work for the beautiful Trump administration, this lovely administration.

In addition, the class of 2025 has nearly 130 active-duty service members, veterans, and members of the University of Alabama ROTC. Thank you very much.

Everywhere you look, you can see the fierce spirit of this school—but nowhere more clearly than in your world-class athletics. There’s nothing like it. Probably there’s no school like it. That’s why I would like to recognize the 11 graduating seniors on the University of Alabama football team. Where may they be? Where are they? You just have to look, and they’re about a foot taller than everybody else. Oh, great. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Great season. Thank you. Thank you. Great season.

There is something truly special about the players, coaches, and the fans who pack the stands at Bryant-Denny Stadium and proudly sing “Dixieland Delight.” We like that. Alabama has changed college football forever and inscribed into the history books the names of Bear Bryant, Joe Namath, four Heisman Trophy winners, and, of course, the great Nick Saban. This place is truly where legends are made. It really is. It’s a special place.

When your president called, we talked about it. It took me about two seconds to say, I’ll go. I wasn’t looking to do it, and we are busy. You know, we’re winning a lot of battles right now. We love winning. Don’t we love winning? We’re winning. But I wanted to do this.

For the University of Alabama, good isn’t good enough, tough isn’t tough enough, and great isn’t great enough. The Crimson Tide does not rest, does not quit, and does not stop winning until it’s all time. You know, it’s all time—you’re always winning, and you’re going to keep winning.

That’s why the University of Alabama football team has won more games in the last decade than any college football team in America. That’s not bad. And it’s why last fall you beat Auburn for the fifth year in a row. That’s not bad.

The University of Alabama has a brand, and that brand is winning. That brand is a great school. Last year, the Crimson Chaos watched the Tide hoops make it to the Final Four for the first time ever. And this year you built on your incredible record and returned to the Elite Eight. So not only is Alabama a great football school, it’s now one of the nation’s best basketball schools. And congratulations.

And I love sports, and I think I should have come here. I think I should have come here.

Congratulations as well to the women’s track and field team for winning two SEC titles this year. That’s something. As long as we can keep going, we’re going to win.

And as long as I’m president, we will always protect women’s sports. Men will not play in women’s schools. No way! They say that’s an 80–20 issue. No, it’s a 97–3 issue, I think. No, men will not be playing in women’s sports. I said that, and I classified it with a very powerful executive order, as you know. It’s done.

The class of 2025 was the first to enter the halls of this university in the aftermath of COVID-19. Following a difficult senior year of high school, many of you came here to Tuscaloosa from around the country. And for the very first time, you experienced something called freedom. You had freedom.

So let’s give a big round of applause to the leaders of this state who chose liberty over lockdowns. They did. They did a good job.

As you know, there are few campuses in the world more beautiful than this one, and there are few memories sweeter than the ones you have formed at the Capstone. You’ll miss the beautiful sounds of Denny Chimes, the excitement of lining the Walk of Champions, the Saturday tailgates at the Quad.

As you graduate, it’s natural to reflect on four years of happy memories, and you’ve really had happy memories here. You’ve done a lot of winning. Winning is a good thing to do.

But today I’m also asking you to look forward to something very, very bright and more promising. And it’s going to be an even more promising tomorrow. I promise you that. You’re the first graduating class of the Golden Age of America. We’re in the Golden Age. You watch. There’s a goal there, man. This is the Golden Age. We’ve done things that nobody thought possible.

One hundred days—yesterday was 100 days—and we’ve done things that nobody thought even possible. Like many generations before you, you’re graduating at an exciting time for our nation, a period of both extraordinary change and incredible potential and what will be unbelievable growth. You’re going to see that very soon. You’re gonna see it starting very, very soon when the whole world is talking about it.

Our country has always been defined by its ability to reform and reinvent itself to meet the challenges of the next era. The last four years were not good for our country, but don’t let that scare you. It was an aberration. We were run by people who truly, at that time—four years—we were run by people that didn’t have a clue. They didn’t have a clue, and I’m trying to be nice when I say it that way.

They allowed our beautiful USA to be laughed at, scorned, and taken advantage of. We were ripped off on trade by nations all over the world, both friend and foe—and oftentimes a friend was far worse on trade than the foe. But those days are over.

You’re at the start of something very, very big. You’re going to see that very soon.

Now, exactly 250 years after the first patriots stood and fought at Lexington and Concord, we’re in the midst of another kind of revolution—a revolution of winning and a revolution of common sense.

Everywhere you look, broken systems, corrupt institutions, and tired dogmas are being swept away by the tide of history. Ancient wisdom is being rediscovered, and the best and strongest traits of America are coming back for all to see—bigger, better, and greater than ever. They’re coming back, and they’re coming back fast.

The spirit of our age is one of boldness, vigor, ambition, and adventure. And it’s exciting to be you—and young. Oh, I’d pay you a lot of money to have your age. You have a great future.

The people have rejected the voices of a failed establishment. You saw that in the election. We’ve turned the page on endless wars, crippling debt, open borders, ruinous inflation, and the lack of respect for our country and for its leaders. But we’re turning that all around, and we’re turning it around very fast.

We will very quickly make America great again.

This week, we’re celebrating the most successful first 100 days of any presidential administration in the history of our country. We’ve been given a lot of credit for that. But 100 days does not a full term make. We’re going to do even better as we move along.

In a matter of weeks, we’ve achieved the lowest number of illegal border crossings ever recorded. And you’ve seen it—hundreds of thousands of people pouring into our country from prisons, from mental institutions, from gangs, and from all over the world—not just in South America. You’d see hundreds of thousands of people pour across in one day.

You know what we had just recently? Three. Three. Three.

And we slashed the number of illegal aliens released into the United States by 99.999%. And if that number is wrong, the fake news—which is all over the place today—is going to be correcting me before I get to the next sentence. But 99.999%—how about that? Nobody thought that was possible. They said you needed legislation. No, you just needed a new president. That’s what you needed.

But despite the tremendous success, as you’ve been reading, the courts are trying to stop me from doing the job that I was elected to do. We won by millions of votes. We won all seven swing states—seven out of seven. We won 312 electoral college votes. They said, oh, 270 would be great. We won 312. And 2,750 counties versus 525 counties throughout the nation. And that’s why, when you look at a map, it’s all red. It’s all red. Every inch of it is red—a couple of little blue dots.

But they have to let us do the job that the voters want us to do. Judges are interfering, supposedly based on due process. But how can you give due process to people who came into our country illegally? They want to give them due process? I don’t know.

We’ve created 350,000 new jobs and brought core inflation down to its lowest level in many, many years. Energy is down—look at your cost of energy, way down. Groceries are down. Even eggs are down. Remember, I came in—I was here a week—and they started screaming at me, the fake news: “Egg prices have doubled!” I said, “I just got here. I’ve been here for four days.” I said, “Tell me about egg prices.” “They’ve doubled!” Well, they didn’t double under me. I just got there, and we did a great job.

We brought down the cost of eggs. In fact, they said, you won’t have eggs for Easter. They wanted to give—we have a big Easter egg hunt at the White House. You saw it just take place. And they thought we should order thousands of plastic eggs. Plastic! They said, no, we’ll do it. And we straightened out the egg situation very quickly. Our great Secretary of Agriculture did a fantastic job, and we had so many eggs, we didn’t know what the hell to do with them.

And prices of eggs have gone down 87% since I took office. That’s something, right?

But the price of food has gone down, and mortgage rates are down, and gasoline prices just hit $1.88 a gallon in three states. Can you believe it? It was at $3.50. It was $4. We’re drilling—oh, we’re drilling. You know: drill, baby, drill. We drill, baby, drill. We do that. We got it down. We have it going good. And you know when energy drops that much, you don’t have much inflation. It’s hard to have inflation.

It was just announced that in the first quarter, investments in the United States are up 22%—that we’re leading the whole world in investment. Everybody’s pouring into our country with big dollars. And it’s all about November 5th—the November 5th election—and tariffs and incentives that we’ve given that are gonna make this country so much richer.

We have $36 trillion in debt. That’s going to start to come off. It’s going to come off rapidly. But we’ll be over $8 trillion in investment—with Apple and others investing $500 billion each. We’ve never had a period of time—two months, because we’re here for three months, a little bit more. But give me a break for the first month, you know, had to get a little acclimated. Had to see where the enemy lies, because they’re already looking to impeach Trump. You know these crazy people—”Let’s impeach him!” For what? “We don’t know exactly, but we’ll try it!” These people are crazy.

So we had to get our bearings for the first couple of weeks. So in two months we had over $8 trillion—think of it—committed. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it. There’s never been anything like it in any country at any time. And it’s all because they want to avoid the tariffs. They want to get here fast.

And I said, you know, a number of times, “Tariff”—it’s the most beautiful word in the world. And absolutely decimated by the fake news. They said, “What about love? What about your wife? What about your parents? What about religion and God?” So I said, “All right, it’s the fifth nicest word I’ve ever seen.” And since I’ve done that, I’ve been in good shape. Nobody’s bothered me. They’ve been very nice.

So it’s the fifth most beautiful word I’d ever heard. But it’s making us very rich. And you’ll be seeing the results pretty soon—sooner than most people think. Because that’s what other countries have been doing to us, just so you understand. They were tariffing the hell out of us. We couldn’t sell cars in Europe. We couldn’t sell cars in China. We couldn’t sell cars in Japan or anywhere else. We couldn’t do anything. And all we’re doing is—we’re doing it to them. But we’re doing it much better.

And the U.S. military is suddenly seeing its best recruiting numbers ever. We’ve never had numbers like this. We now have waiting lists because there is such incredible spirit in our country. There’s a great spirit.

And just think—six months ago, and you remember—it was embarrassing. Before the election, for six months we were hearing and reading that numbers of those joining our military were at the worst levels ever. We’ve never had anything like it, right? You remember that?

And now they’re at the best levels ever. We have waiting lists to get into the military. We couldn’t fill the positions. And that included in our police forces, our fire departments. We love our fire department also. We can never forget our fire departments. But our police forces were begging for help. And now they’re brimming over with people and applicants, and they’re getting great people. It’s amazing what’s taken place. And that’s really the spirit.

Each of the graduates in this arena will soon have the chance to help lead this project of national renewal. And that’s what it is—it’s a national renewal. We suffered so badly for four years. We had one of the greatest economies—we actually had the greatest economy in the history of our country—during the first term of Trump. And then we got hit hard with inflation.

During the Biden economy, it was horrible. We were hit so hard—the worst probably ever. They say 48 years—we’ll accept that. But I would say ever.

You’ll embrace this moment, and you’ll step forward with strength and grit, faith and patriotism to put America on a new trajectory for your children. And then you’ll take your place among the greatest generations in the history of our country. I think you have a chance to be the greatest generation in the country, because we’re turning it around—and you happen to be available. You’re available. That’s a good time to be available. There are some times when it’s not so good to be available, but this is a great time.

I’m absolutely confident that the Alabama class of 2025 is up to the task. Are you up to the task? You learned a lot about winning here at Alabama. And now we need you to help win for America.

For the business majors here today, I challenge you not merely to use your talents for financial speculation, but to apply your great skills that you’ve learned and had to forging the steel and pouring the concrete of new American factories, plants, shipyards, and even cities, which are going up all over our country.

Don’t just build a strong portfolio—build a very, very strong America. And you’re going to do that.

To the engineers—brilliant you are—technicians, scientists and math majors, we need your Alabama spirit and competition to keep our country at the forefront of every single domain. America should have the world’s tallest buildings, design the fastest airplanes, build the greatest cars, do everything the absolute best—better than any other nation in the world—and you can do it.

And we will soon land American astronauts on Mars. That will happen. That will happen.

In every field you have studied, there are problems to be solved and breakthroughs to be made.

To the journalism majors—of which I’ve had a lot of problems with, I must be honest—I’m not sure I like them. No, I do. I do. But you’re really leading a very important thing, because we need a great and free press. We need a brilliant press. They’re like a watchkeeper. They are very important, and you can go and take it down a new track. Help save the country. So important. Your task is so important, and it’s to build a media that Americans can trust. And remember: the people of this country, they know the truth when they hear it. That’s why the ratings, the approval numbers of the media, are so low. We need those ratings to be 100%. We have to be able to trust our media.

They say you have to have that. You need strong, strong borders, and you need really free, fair, clean elections. You need those things. But the media is a big part of it.

In the world of health and medicine, there is an exciting new movement to get poisons out of our food supply, keep toxins out of our government, clean out our environment, and make America healthy again. And I think Bobby’s gonna do a great job, don’t you? I think so. I think he’s the guy we needed.

And in government, it is the task of your generation to replace bureaucracy, graft, and waste with a new system that defends American freedom. These are big tasks before you. But the reward for your hard work will be that the United States of America is stronger, prouder, better, and more unified than ever, ever, ever before. It’s going to be.

As you embark on this great adventure, let me share some of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from a lifetime spent building dreams and beating the odds. I beat a lot of odds. A lot of people said, “I don’t know,” but it worked out okay. Where are we? Oh gee, I’m president. How did that happen?

Now, you’re going to be in the same position. Would you like to hear some of these ideas or should I just skip over that part, huh? That’s going to be more interesting than all the other stuff, which was slightly political, right? I’m going to give it to you, though—just as I see it and as I’ve learned it, the hard way and the easy way.

First, if you’re here today and think that you’re too young to do something great, let me tell you that you are wrong. You’re not too young. You can have great success at a very young age. You’re all very young. In America, with drive and ambition, young people can do anything.

I was 28 when I took my first big gamble—to develop a hotel in Midtown Manhattan, the Grand Hyatt—and it worked out incredibly well. But I was very young at the time. I was like a very young person in sort of an old person’s business.

Steve Jobs was 21 when he founded Apple. Walt Disney was 21 when he founded Disney. James Madison, James Monroe, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson—they were no older than 25 when they began the journeys that etched their names into the history books for all time.

So to everyone here today: Don’t waste your youth. Go out and fight right from the beginning—from the day you leave this incredible university. Go out and fight. Fight tough, fight fair—but go out and fight. You’re gonna be very successful, because now is the time to work harder than you have ever worked before. Push yourself further than you have ever pushed yourself before. Find your limits—and then smash through everything. Go and smash through.

You’ve watched that football team smash through—you’re gonna do the same thing. You’re at the age when you have the time and vitality to do really incredible things, if you give it your all. You’ll look back, and a decade from now, you’ll be astounded by what you’ve achieved.

You’ll remember this day. You’ll remember when the guy named Trump was giving the commencement address and he said, “I could do it.” And guess what? I think you’re going to remember that very fondly. I hope so.

Second of all, and very importantly, you have to love what you do, okay? You have to. I rarely see somebody that’s successful that doesn’t love what he or she does. That way, you really like work—it isn’t work. It’s fun. I find it fun. I work all the time, and I find that fun. If I didn’t find it, I wouldn’t be successful—whether it was real estate or in showbiz. I had a lot of different careers.

But I loved real estate so much. I was very successful in real estate because I loved it. I learned a lot from my father because I watched him work. He was a workaholic. He loved to work. He was a good man. He was a tough guy—tough as hell, actually. Now that I think back, I don’t know if you could even get away with that nowadays. He was tough, but he was a good man, I’ll tell you.

He worked seven days a week. He worked Saturdays, Sundays—it didn’t matter. And I learned by watching him. He loved his life. He loved what he was doing. He had a great long-term marriage—many, many, many years. He beat me on that one. Now, mine were very successful, but they haven’t lasted quite as long. It was close to 70 years. That was a long time. I said, “Pop, you beat me on that one.”

But you know what I learned from him? That he loved life. And all he did was work. I see people that don’t work hard and they’re miserable. So go out and find something you love—and do it.

You have to find something that you love, and you have to follow your own instincts. Listen to your parents—they’re very wise—but you have to follow your instincts and your heart, your soul, and you want to be the very, very best you can be. Treat every day like a home game against Auburn. Fight like hell and enjoy doing it—and your coach can tell you all about that.

Third thing is to think big. You know, if you’re going to do something, you might as well think big, because it’s just as tough. You can think small—I know a lot of people, they thought small. They’re very smart. I know others that weren’t nearly as smart, but they had a better picture of the big picture. Because it’s just as hard to solve a small problem as a big problem. It’s just as much energy and everything else, except the result is going to be a smaller one.

So love what you do—but think big, if it’s possible. Now, if it’s not possible, that’s okay too. You do something—you have to do something that you love. You will have all the same headaches and challenges, all the same delays and setbacks, so you might as well do something that’s just amazing.

America doesn’t aim small. Alabama doesn’t aim small. And neither do you. So think big when possible. Think big.

Fourth is work hard. Work hard. Never, ever stop. An example is a great athlete actually—Gary Player, golfer. Great, great golfer. He wasn’t as big as other men. He was actually on the small side—don’t tell him that, he’s a friend of mine. Don’t tell him that, because he doesn’t understand that. But he worked very, very hard. He made up for it. He never stopped. He won 168 golf tournaments—think of that. I said, “Gary, you’re winning like every weekend. Do you ever choke or anything?” He said, “I don’t know what choke means.”

And he made a statement years ago that I read, and I thought it was sort of an incredible statement. He said, “It’s funny—the harder I work, the luckier I get.” Think of that. “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”

So you really have to work hard. And you’re going to be successful, because you have the talent to get into this school. It’s not easy to get through it—it’s even more difficult. You have a lot of talent.

Fifth is don’t lose your momentum. You just want to keep it going. And you have to know if you are losing it. You have to know when you’re losing it. So maybe you stop. Maybe it’s time to stop. Listen to the feedback. Think through your plan very carefully and keep moving fast. The word momentum is very important.

Let me tell you a little story about a great real estate developer named William Levitt. He built Levittown. Some of you might live in one. He was the biggest developer in the whole country in the 1940s and so on. And he built these jobs. He started with one house, then two houses, then 20 houses, then thousands and thousands of houses.

And a company, Gulf and Western, came along and they said, “We’re going to make you an offer to buy your company.” And they offered him a lot of money. A lot of money—more money than he ever thought he could make. And he retired. Lost his momentum. He retired. And he led a beautiful life.

He had a wife—I must tell you, it was his second wife. It was a trophy wife. What can I say? I don’t like telling you everything, but we’re all friends, right? Can we talk? We’re all friends. He had his trophy wife and he lived a different life. He moved to the south of France. It was a life of tremendous luxury. He had so many millions of dollars. He was given a fortune for the company.

And ten years went by, and then fifteen years went by, and he got a call from this big conglomerate, Gulf and Western. And they said, “We’re not doing well with the purchase.” Because he used to pick up every nail, every piece of sawdust, every piece of wood, every chip—everything—and he’d sell it and make a couple of bucks, and everything was perfect. They can’t do that. You know, these big companies—they don’t do that.

You see it a lot when an entrepreneur sells to a big company, and then he ends up buying the company back for peanuts later on. Happens a lot. But he was the best at what he did. But fifteen years went by, and he was so excited—and they sold him back his company.

He started, and he was going to tear apart the world because he got bored with a life of luxury. And he started building and building and building, and the markets turned on him. And he went bad. He lost everything. And he went bankrupt. Absolutely bankrupt. And it was a sad story to read. It was such an amazing story, because he was so rich. He paid them, and he bought it for the right price—bought it low—but he went wild. But he lost his momentum. He wasn’t good at it anymore.

He was at a party on Fifth Avenue—I’ll never forget. It was a party of a very, very powerful man who was having the party in a magnificent apartment overlooking the park. I walked in and there were 50 or so people—I recognized most of them—all the biggest business people in the world, actually. Very glamorous.

I was doing well. I was young, and I was going well. And I was invited to parties like that. I looked in the corner and there was Mr. William Levitt, sitting all by himself on a chair, looking very glum. Nobody was talking to him. You’ll find that when you’re not successful, you lose a lot of friends. It’s not a good situation. But there was nobody talking to him.

But I wanted to talk to him because I was in the real estate business, and he was. And most of these people were in different businesses. And I went over and talked to him and I said, “How are you, Mr. Levitt?”

He goes, “Donald,”—he knew who I was—”not well. I’m not well.”

I said, “So, can you come back?”

He said, “No, son. I lost my momentum. I shouldn’t have done it. I lost my momentum.”

I never forgot that expression. He lost his momentum. If he would have kept going instead of selling and relaxing and going into a different life, he probably would have been three times bigger than he was. But he lost his momentum. And you have to know when it’s your time.

I mean, there’ll be a time when you do lose. You see it with fighters. You see it with a lot of people. They have a great record and they retire. Then four years later they say, “I’m going back. I can beat that.” And they get knocked to hell. And it’s not good. It’s not good.

So he lost his momentum. You have to know when your momentum time is up. I call it momentum time. But follow your momentum. Very important word. You don’t hear it from too many, but I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it a lot.

Number six: If you want to change the world, you have to have the courage to be an outsider. In other words, you have to take certain risks and do things a little bit differently. Otherwise, if that weren’t the case, everybody would be successful. It doesn’t work that way.

Progress never comes from those satisfied with the failures of a broken system. It comes from those who want to fix the broken system. And you’ll make the bigger money—you’ll make more success—by acting that way. The other way may be more secure. But if you want to go to the top…

Change is never easy. And the closer you get to success, the more ferociously those with a vested interest in the past will resist you. They want to resist. So I just say: Trust me on that, because I know. You really do. You have to break the system a little bit and follow your own instincts. But if your vision is right, nothing will hold you down. Nothing.

You have to have the right vision. If you look at some of these internet people—I know so many of them. Elon is so terrific. But I know now all of them—you know, they all hated it.

It’s amazing. It’s nicer this way.

Now, in the first, you know—they didn’t know what happened because I won an election that, you know—there was never a businessman that won a presidential election. Out of 100%, 8% were generals and 92% were politicians. Not even admirals—just generals. General Washington, General Grant, General Eisenhower.

But 8% were generals and 92% were politicians. And when I ran, everyone said, “Well, he can’t win. He’s a businessman. That’s not going to work.” But you have a natural instinct for things. I guess I had a natural one.

I said to somebody, “Was I a better businessman or a politician?” And they said, “There are a lot of guys that made a lot of money, but there’s only one guy that became president who was a businessman—so I guess you’re a better politician.” But I don’t think of myself as a politician. I think of myself as a businessman. And I’m proud of that.

And I’ve applied business instinct, and that’s why I think you’re seeing us doing so well.

So number seven is: Trust your instincts. Common sense. You can go very far in life with common sense. And I apply that to politics, because some of these things—like they had open borders. Let everybody in the whole world flow into our country. That’s not common sense.

They had transgender for everybody. We ended that, if you noticed. Okay?

But they had transgenders for everybody. I said, “This is not working. This is not gonna work.” As I said before—it’s so simple—men playing in women’s sports.

Did you ever see some of the records? Did you see some of these boxing matches? You know, we have to protect. These women are great athletes. But we have to protect.

If you looked at the Olympics, where they had transitions—people going into the boxing—where the women had boxing, and they had a great champion, a female boxer… After one punch, she walked back to the corner and said, “I can’t get hit like that. I’ve never been hit like this before.”

You look at all the volleyball players that have been hurt so badly with balls that are hit at levels that they’ve never seen before. But the greatest is weightlifting. You ever see the weightlifting? Where they have a record that wasn’t broken in 18 years?

And they have—should I imitate it? You know, my wife gets very upset when I do this. She says, “Darling, it’s not presidential.” It’s here, but people like it. Should I do it or not? Do it!

All right, I’m in trouble when I get home, but that’s okay. What the hell. I’ve been in lots of trouble before.

Now, you look at the weightlifting. Where for 18 years it stands. And they have this young woman—and her parents are right where you are, in the front row—and they’re so proud of her. And it’s like 209 pounds. And she’s going to lift that.

The record stood for 18—think of it—18 years. And they put an eighth of an ounce here, a little tiny bit. And she’s going to do it. “Mom, I love you. I’m going to do it for you, Mom.” And she goes… and she goes… and she gets it. “Mom, I’m going to do it, Mom.” Tantos—

And then a guy comes along—or a gal or whatever—a transitioned person comes along. And he was a failed weightlifter as a man. But he comes along—206 pounds. They put the little thing on. And he goes… and breaks the record by 119 pounds.

That’s not right.

The other one is the swimming—you’ve heard me talk about it. Great swimmers. And you know, they rose to the top—women swimmers. And they grew up together. And they’re Olympic-class swimmers. And they’re qualifying for some big tournament.

And now the race is getting ready to start—the big race. And one young lady, she was going to set the record. She fought all her life to set the records. She has to win it by one-ninth of a second. Think of that—one-ninth.

I don’t like those odds—one-ninth of a second, right? But she looks to the left and she sees all the friends that she grew up with—down in California, from all over the country. They’re all the best swimmers. Then she looks to the right and she sees the same thing.

But there’s a person next to her who’s a giant. And she looks and she’s like, “Who is that? I don’t recognize that person.” That was a person that transitioned. And he had the wingspan of Wilt “the Stilt” Chamberlain—if anybody knows him.

And as you know what happened—she was very, very badly injured in that meet. Because he went by her so fast that she was windburned. They had to take her out. She got serious windburn. He flew back and forth and back and forth. And she didn’t know what—but she got the hell knocked out of her.

No, I’m only kidding. She wasn’t windburned. She just was beaten by a lot.

Then the race—did you see the race where they had the best female runners? And they had a guy who was a decent runner. A long-distance race. And he won by five hours and nineteen seconds.

You know, normally you win by like twelve seconds, two seconds, a quarter of a second. He won by five hours and nineteen seconds.

It’s crazy.

And, you know, honestly, it’s demeaning for women. Very demeaning. These are great athletes—it’s very demeaning. And we’re going to protect women. We’re going to protect women. We’re going to protect everybody.

So now that I’m in trouble with my wife, I’m going to blame the University of Alabama for asking me to go through with that stuff. But it’s pretty descriptive, isn’t it? Really helps.

When you know that borders are not racist. Speech is not violence. America is good. Terrorists are bad. Men can never become women. Police are not criminals. And criminals are not victims.

Eighth: Everybody should believe. Thank you. Thank you very much. Everybody should believe in the American Dream. It’s real. It’s there. And it’s right before you. We’re coming back to the American Dream.

Ninth: Think of yourself as a winner. The power of positive thinking. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, from many years ago, wrote a book—The Power of Positive Thinking. And there is a lot to it. The power of positive thinking.

Don’t consider yourself a victim. Consider yourself a winner.

In recent years, too many of our young people have really been taught to think of themselves as victims, and to blame people, and be angry. Don’t be angry.

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. Despite all odds. That’s what happens. They take—really, they’re given a little chance in many cases, very little chance of success—and they become the most successful people in the world.

Whether you were born rich or poor, Black or White, male or female—in America, anyone can be a winner. And our whole country will be cheering you on. And I’ll be at the front of the line cheering you—especially because you come from this incredible university.

And next is to be an original. The old-time greats were people who had the confidence to be a little different—Teddy Roosevelt, Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, Amelia Earhart, Annie Oakley, Muhammad Ali, and so many others. So many others, far too many to name—lived their lives with pride, personality, and flair.

God only created one of you. Remember that. God created one of you. You’re all different. Some are close, but nobody is the same. You’re one of a kind.

So don’t try to be someone else. Just be yourself.

And finally—and most importantly—never, ever give up. Never give up! Never give up!

And if I’ve learned anything in life—and it’s so true—one of the most important things you can learn: if you just went a little bit longer, if you just held out a little longer, you would have been successful. The stories of that are legend. But I’ve learned that perseverance is everything.

So whatever happens—no matter where you are in life—stay optimistic, and just keep pushing forward. Just don’t stop. Never, ever give up. Victory is right around the corner.

I’ve watched Coach Saban win games that really were virtually over. You’ve seen it. You’ve been in the stands. He won a couple of games—I said, “Coach, you got lucky as hell.” He said, “I didn’t get lucky. I’m a talented guy.”

You know those little touchdowns that come out of nothing? He’s amazing. But he’s a guy that doesn’t quit and doesn’t know what the word ‘quit’ even means. He couldn’t define it. He took victory out of the jaws of defeat—and you can do that too.

At every stage in my career, my enemies—of which there were many, and probably are right now—I can think of a couple of people that don’t like me too much right now. But they said that they have to do everything they can to keep me from winning, to keep me from making it.

And I’m representing you, so I have to make it. I have big shoulders, but these are big shoulders. I have to win for you. I’m not winning for myself—I am winning for you.

Do you remember when they said that Donald Trump will never become President of the United States? Remember Barack Hussein Obama said that? Barack Hussein Obama: “Donald Trump will never be president.” Like 50 other politicians said that. Where are they now? Let me say—oh, there they are. Where are they now?

But here I am, standing before you as the 45th and 47th president. You heard that a lot. But against all odds—I did great in 2016. 2016—how great was it? And then I did much better in 2020. Sorry, the election was rigged—probably—but it was a rigged election.

And then in 2024, I made it too big to rig. I said, “We gotta do this again. We gotta do it again.” And we made it too big to rig. We made it—that was a great expression. I said, “You gotta go and vote.” Even though I was leading big in the polls, I said, “It doesn’t matter. You gotta make it too big to rig.” And they did. They went out and they voted and voted and we won the whole thing.

And it was so good. And it’s such a great mandate for our country. That’s the important thing.

So never let anyone tell you that something is impossible—ever, ever, ever. In America, the impossible is what we all want to do best. There is nothing you cannot do if you are willing to fight for it. You gotta fight, fight, fight.

Oh, I’ve heard that expression—funny. That’s not here. Not hearing that.

Actually, most of what I’ve said tonight is not on the teleprompter. That all right? Isn’t it nice to have a president that doesn’t need a teleprompter and can sort of have a little fun? Because I feel that this is home.

You know, it’s been such a great state for me. I feel it’s home. When they said Alabama, I said, “That has a good ring to me.” There’s something nice about somebody that doesn’t need a teleprompter, isn’t it?

But for the past four years, you’ve lived in a state known for its fighters, its champions, and its warriors. And you’ve lived in the great state of Alabama—one of the greatest of them all.

From Huntsville to Birmingham, from Montgomery to Mobile, and from right here in Tuscaloosa to the gleaming shores of the Gulf of America—everybody loves it. I wouldn’t say Mexico’s thrilled, but you can’t have them all. They’re not thrilled.

You continue the legacy of Alabama legends who blazed the trails, won the games, tilled the fields, forged the steel, built the ships, and gave us the victories that built America and changed the world. The entire world was changed by our victories.

This is the state that gave us the might of the Iron City, the power of the Saturn V rocket, and the roaring engines of Talladega. We love Talladega. We love Talladega!

This is the state that gave us nothing but victory. The state of some of the greatest heroes in history, like Willie Mays, Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, your coach Nick Saban, Hank Williams, and many others.

Some of you will leave here today and travel the world—but you will always know this state as… this is really Sweet Home Alabama, right? It’s always going to be your place. I sort of feel that way myself. Because from a political standpoint, it’s just been—we connected from day one. From the first day I set my foot on this beautiful soil, I connected with Alabama.

And here in Alabama, we believe that the men and women who built this country are heroes, and that America’s destiny is to be the single greatest nation on the face of the earth. And we’re bringing it back at a speed that nobody thought was possible.

We believe in freedom and family, God and country. We cherish our Constitution. We revere our Bible. And we salute our great American flag. We honor our police. We respect our veterans. And we always stand for our one and only national anthem. We love our national anthem.

We believe in strong parents, strong values, strong communities, and very strong borders. And we believe that the United States military is the greatest force for peace and justice the world has ever known.

We have a great military. We just had people that didn’t know how to lead it.

We believe the South is beautiful, Alabama is great, and America is our home. We believe in the SEC and the USA.

Graduates of the Alabama class of 2025—standing here before you in this magnificent arena—it is clear to see: the next chapter of the American story will not be written by the Harvard Crimson. It will be written by you—the Crimson Tide.

True. That’s true. That is true. That’s true. I thought that was rather clever.

If you look at what’s going on—you know, they get their $5 billion a year. That is not going to be so forthcoming now. Can you—wasn’t that a clever one though, huh? Who would think of that?

Because this is Alabama. And at Alabama, you fight, fight, fight—and you win, win, win. That’s what you know how to do.

Congratulations to you all. Congratulations to this great class of champions.

God bless you, and God bless America.

Thank you all very much.