Friend,

Around this time each year, college seniors and their families gather to celebrate a momentous and exciting milestone: graduation. And while colleges and universities are now finding new, creative ways to honor our young people due to COVID-19, Donald Trump has found a way to make one graduation ceremony all about him.

It’s not unusual for the President of the United States to give the in-person commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. However, under these extraordinary circumstances, Donald Trump’s insistence on calling back 1,000 graduates and their families to attend an in-person ceremony in New York, the state hardest hit by the coronavirus, is irresponsible and dangerous. It’s exactly what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump -- but we cannot allow him to put our cadets in harm's way simply for the sake of stroking his own ego. If you agree, will you join me today in demanding that Donald Trump protect the health and safety of our future servicemembers?

TELL TRUMP: DON’T HOLD AN IN-PERSON GRADUATION

Both the Naval Academy and the Coast Guard Academy, in addition to thousands of colleges and universities across the country, have canceled their in-person graduation ceremonies as a matter of public safety. And according to Trump’s own federal guidelines, schools may not welcome their students back to campus until their state has met the requirements for Phase 2 of re-opening. New York State is nowhere near even Phase 1.

Forcing 1,000 West Point cadets from around the country to risk their health and the health of everyone with whom they come into contact is an unnecessary risk that no one, least of all our military graduates, should have to take.

Please Donald, just give a virtual speech instead.

Best,
Ted

SIGN HERE: PROTECT OUR WEST POINT CADETS