&w=3840&q=100)
Donald Trump speaks to graduating students at Alabama amid protests
AP Tuscaloosa (US)
President Donald Trump was addressing graduating students at the University of Alabama on Thursday, a visit that drew hundreds of protesters to an off-campus rally.
Trump's remarks in Tuscaloosa are the Republican president's first address to graduates in his second term and come as he has been celebrating the first 100 days of his administration. The previously scheduled visit came shortly after he announced a shake-up to his national security team, with Mike Waltz being tapped for United Nations ambassador and Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking over Waltz's national security adviser role on an interim basis.
What a nice looking group this is, Trump said to open his speech. There's nowhere I'd rather be than Tuscaloosa.
Alabama, where Trump won a commanding 64 per cent of the vote in 2024, is where he has staged a number of his trademark large rallies over the past decade. It is also where Trump showed early signs of strength in his first presidential campaign when he began filling stadiums for his rallies.
While Trump has described the speech as a commencement address, it is actually a special event that was created before graduation ceremonies that begin Friday. Graduating students have the option of attending the event.
Former Crimson Tide football coach Nick Saban also spoke, regaling the audience with a story about visiting the Oval Office in 2018 during Trump's first term. Saban said Trump was a gracious host.
Ahead of the president's arrival, cap-and-gown-wearing graduates and their families began filing into the arena where Trump was set to speak. Many seemed excited about the prospect of seeing him in person.
Emily Appel, a 22-year-old advertising major from Norcross, Georgia, called Trump's appearance at their school a cherry on top of her college years.
I think it's such an honour, no matter who the president is. I think this is a huge honour to have the president of the United States speaking to our school," Appel said.
She called Trump a very influential person and said she hoped he had a message to share that was "positive about us being able to work in the real world and for our future.
Sophie Best, who is graduating with a communications degree, said, I don't think that we could have had a greater person come to speak." The 21-year-old from Cartersville, Georgia, said she attended Trump's first presidential inauguration in 2017 when she was a freshman in high school, along with her father, who she said loves Trump.
I think that no matter what political party or whatever you believe in, I think that it's super cool that we get to experience and make history and be a part of this, she said.
At a park several miles away, hundreds of people gathered at a counter rally hosted by College Democrats. One-time presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke of Texas and former US Senator Doug Jones, the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Alabama, addressed the rally, called a Tide Against Trump a play on the university's nickname.
Aidan Meyers, a 21-year-old junior studying biology at the university, said he felt betrayed by the decision to let Trump speak at a graduation-related event.
I felt betrayed that the university was willing to put up with someone who has made it clear that they hate academia, essentially holding funding above universities' heads as a bargaining chip, unless they bow down to what he wants, which is kind of a hallmark sign with fascist regime, Meyers said.
He said he also feels betrayed by the administration's stance on science and research. A fellowship he was seeking at the National Institutes of Health was canceled because of the federal hiring freeze, he said.
O'Rourke told the rally that Trump was trying to make the students' graduation all about him, true to form. He urged students and others gathered to go out and use their voices to win America back.
The power of people works in this country, even against Donald Trump, O'Rourke said.
Jones told the crowd they were there not just as a protest, but as a movement.
You are here today because you're concerned, you're afraid. You understand that this country's great democracy is teetering right now with what we're seeing going on, the former senator said.
Ahead of the rally, O'Rourke praised the students who invited him as inspiring and said their efforts in a Republican-dominated state like Alabama are an example for the rest of the country.
You cannot be too red or too rural or too Republican to be written off right now. You also can't be too blue or too liberal to be taken for granted, O'Rourke told The Associated Press after arriving in Tuscaloosa. You've got to show up absolutely everywhere. We truly are in crisis.
Trump's presence has also drawn criticism from the Alabama NAACP, which said his policies are hurting universities and students, particularly students of color.
Trump's visit to Alabama is his second trip this week. He held a rally in Michigan on Tuesday to mark 100 days in office.
Outside of weekend trips for personal visits, the president has not made many official trips since taking office on January 20. He usually speaks to the public from the impromptu news conferences he holds in the Oval Office and at other events at the White House.
After his stop in Alabama, Trump is scheduled to travel to Florida for a long weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Later this month, he is scheduled to give the commencement address at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
26 minutes ago
- Mint
Iran Meets UK, France and Germany for Nuclear Talks
(Bloomberg) -- Iranian and European officials held nuclear talks in Istanbul on Friday as tensions simmer over Tehran's nuclear program after it was targeted by a US military strike last month. Diplomats from the Islamic Republic met with counterparts from the UK, France and Germany — the so-called E3 bloc of top European economies — at around 10:30 a.m. local time to try and ease a standoff over Iran's atomic activities. The talks come about a month after the US bombed three key nuclear sites in Iran, triggering a break in international inspections of its atomic activities and raising questions over the whereabouts of its stockpile of enriched uranium. The strike also derailed separate nuclear negotiations between the Islamic Republic and the Trump administration. The E3 helped broker a 2015 nuclear deal — known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — with Iran that imposed strict limits on Tehran's atomic work in exchange for sanctions relief. Friday's talks are important because they could delay any effort by the Europeans to 'snap back' broad United Nations sanctions that were lifted as part of that accord. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot last week announced the possibility of reimposing the sanctions by the end of August if Iran fails to reach a deal limiting its nuclear program. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that the E3 has lost any right to invoke the JCPOA's snapback mechanism, which expires in October, because it failed to meet its own obligations under the agreement after US President Donald Trump withdrew from it seven years ago. On Wednesday, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister said Tehran has 'not ruled out' withdrawing from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons if the UN were to reimpose sanctions. 'That's still on the table,' Kazem Gharibabadi, who's attending the Istanbul talks, told reporters. 'I'm quite confident that if the snapback is triggered, Iran will not show more restraint in this regard,' he said. --With assistance from Patrick Sykes. (Updates lead to reflect talks have started.) More stories like this are available on
NDTV
42 minutes ago
- NDTV
Trump Admin Asks US Supreme Court to Reinstate $783 Million In Research Funding Cuts
Washington: The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to cut hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of research funding in its push to roll back federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. The Justice Department argued a federal judge in Massachusetts was wrong to block the National Institutes of Health from making $783 million worth of cuts to align with President Donald Trump's priorities. US District Judge William Young found that the abrupt cancellations ignored long-held government rules and standards. Young, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, also said the cuts amounted to "racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community." "I've never seen government racial discrimination like this," Young said at a hearing last month. An appeals court left the ruling in place. The ruling came in lawsuits filed by 16 attorneys general, public-health advocacy groups and some affected scientists. His decision addressed only a fraction of the hundreds of NIH research projects that have been cut. The Trump administration's appeal also takes aim at nearly two dozen cases over funding. Solicitor General D. John Sauer pointed to a 5-4 decision on the Supreme Court's emergency docket from April that allowed cuts to teacher training programs to go forward. The order shows that district judges shouldn't be hearing those cases at all, but rather sending them to federal claims court, he argued. "Those decisions reflect quintessential policy judgments on hotly contested issues that should not be subject to judicial second-guessing. It is hardly irrational for agencies to recognize-as members of this Court have done-that paeans to 'diversity' often conceal invidious racial discrimination," he wrote.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Europeans, Iran meet in Istanbul as return of sanctions looms over nuclear deadlock
Iranian and European diplomats are set to meet in Istanbul Friday to embark on the latest drive to unpick the deadlock over Tehran's nuclear programme. Representatives from Britain, France and Germany, known as the E3 nations, will gather at the Iranian consulate building for the first talks since Iran's 12-day war with Israel in June, which involved US bombers striking nuclear-related facilities. The talks are centred on the possibility of reimposing sanctions on Iran that were lifted in 2015 in exchange for Iran accepting restrictions and monitoring of its nuclear programme. The return of sanctions, known as a 'snapback' mechanism, 'remains on the table,' according to a European diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks. 'A possible delay in triggering snapback has been floated to the Iranians on the condition that there is credible diplomatic engagement by Iran, that they resume full cooperation with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency), and that they address concerns about their highly-enriched uranium stockpile,' the diplomat said. European leaders have said sanctions will resume by the end of August if there is no progress on containing Iran's nuclear programme. Tehran, meanwhile, has said the US, which withdrew from the 2015 deal during President Donald Trump's first term, needs to rebuild faith in its role in negotiations. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran's engagement was dependent on 'several key principles' that included 'rebuilding Iran's trust – as Iran has absolutely no trust in the United States.' In a social media post Thursday, he also said the talks shouldn't be used 'as a platform for hidden agendas such as military action.' Gharibabadi insisted that Iran's right to enrich uranium 'in line with its legitimate needs' be respected and sanctions removed. Iran has repeatedly threatened to leave the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which commits it to refrain from developing nuclear weapons, if sanctions return. Friday's talks will be held at the deputy ministerial level, with Iran sending Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-e Ravanchi. A similar meeting was held in Istanbul in May. The identity of the E3 representatives were not immediately clear but the European Union's deputy foreign policy commissioner is expected to attend. The UK, France and Germany were signatories to the 2015 deal, alongside the US, Russia and China. When the US withdrew in 2018, Trump insisted the agreement wasn't tough enough. Under the original deal, neither Russia nor China can veto reimposed sanctions. Since the Israeli and US strikes on Iran, which saw American B-52 bombers hit three nuclear sites, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has accused the E3 of hypocrisy, saying they failed to uphold their obligations while supporting Israel's attacks. Against the backdrop of the conflict, which saw Iran respond with missile attacks on Israel and a strike on a US base in Qatar, the road ahead remains uncertain. While European officials have said they want to avoid further conflict and are open to a negotiated solution, they have warned that time is running out. Tehran maintains it is open to diplomacy, though it recently suspended cooperation with the IAEA. A central concern for Western powers was highlighted when the IAEA reported in May that Iran's stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 per cent – just below weapons-grade level – had grown to over 400 kilograms. In an interview with Al Jazeera that aired Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran is prepared for another war and reiterated that its nuclear programme will continue within the framework of international law while adding the country had no intention of pursuing nuclear weapons. A spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said Thursday the country's nuclear industry would 'grow back and thrive again' after the recent attacks by Israel and the US.
