While the “opposition party” in the media have reported on President Trump’s appearance at the FBI National Academy graduation Friday, most of those reports, including carefully edited video from the event, leave out something that marked many moments from the speech: the graduates’ enthusiastic response to Trump’s comments, including his comments on merit-based immigration, criticism of Democrat-run cities, and his call for a stronger, better-armed police force.
NBC News’ snarky headline clearly tries to portray the event in a negative light, blaring “Trump praises police after blasting ‘sad,’ ‘disgraceful’ FBI.” While NBC’s report admits a couple of times that the graduates laughed and applauded, it clearly tries to present many of Trump’s comments, particularly on immigration, as extreme rather than highlighting that his audience appeared to agree with him.
Trump delivered the speech just after 10:30 a.m. at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. The president was greeted with strong applause and immediately got the group laughing. Trump’s first comment that has made its way into a few reports while the response was ignored or downplayed was his declaration that he’s a “true friend and loyal champion” of police.
“I am here not only to congratulate you, but to honor you for your courage and for your devotion,” said Trump. “And I want you to know that with me as your President, America’s police will have a true friend and loyal champion in the White House — more loyal than anyone else can be, I tell you.”