Outsider Trump Tells Students to Emulate Him in Defying Critics
- President mostly avoids political jabs in commencement speech
- Speaks at Liberty University after rough week at White House
US President Donald Trump speaks during Liberty University's commencement ceremony May 13, 2017 in Lynchburg, Virginia. / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
A defiant President Donald Trump told the graduating class at Liberty University to stand up to criticism and challenge conventions in his first commencement address since taking office, a message that seemed aimed at his detractors as much as to the students.
“No one has achieved anything significant without a chorus of critics,” Trump told students on Saturday at the evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell. “Nothing is easier or more pathetic than being a critic.”