"We can cut plenty of other things," President Donald Trump told West Point's graduating class.

By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams

Photo: Screenshot via CSpan; Pres. Trump speaks at West Point graduation

May 26, 2025 (West Point Military Academ, New York) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday bragged to West Point's graduating class that he has refused to cut Pentagon spending and touted his push for an annual military budget of $1 trillion, arguing that other programs should be on the chopping block instead.

"Some people say, 'Could you cut it back?' I said, 'I'm not cutting 10 cents,'" the president said of Pentagon spending during his bizarre, campaign-style commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy.

"We can cut plenty of other things," Trump added, without specifying what he sees as better targets for cuts than the Pentagon, a sprawling morass of waste and abuse that recently failed its seventh consecutive audit.

Trump's remarks came after House Republicans, with his support, passed a massive budget reconciliation package that includes more than $100 billion in additional spending for the U.S. military and around $1 trillion in combined cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.