President Donald Trump spoke at the University of Alabama ahead of the official opening ceremony on Friday and urged students not to see themselves as a future “victim”, noting that too many young people think so.
Special speeches to graduates also included speeches by University President Stuart R. Bell and former Alabama Crimson Chief Football Coach Nick Saban. Trump touted his success in his first 100 days as president and took the opportunity to stab his political opponents as well.
But Trump's message is mainly concentrated in the graduating class, who is considered "the first graduate of the American golden age."
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Graduated students listened to a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump and spoke at the Coleman Coliseum at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on May 1, 2025. Trump's remarks came the day before the official opening ceremony. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
"Don't think of yourself as a victim. See yourself as a winner. In recent years, too many of our young people have really been taught to see yourself as a victim, blame people and be angry. Don't be angry." "In the United States, we reject anyone's natural thinking. Our heroes are heroes responsible for their own destiny, their own luck and their own destiny, despite the many odds."
In addition to touting his political agenda, Trump also shared other suggestions with the graduating class. Troubled by Democrats’ instructions to him refuse to disengage men from the Women’s Movement, Trump urged students to beat the odds — back to his November election victory — and through tough challenges.
"Alabama's 2025 graduates stand on this grand stage and it's clear that the next chapter of seeing the American story will not be written by Harvard's Crimson Red. This will be written by you - Crimson Red Trends," Trump told students at the end of his speech. "Because this is Alabama. In Alabama, you fight, fight, fight and win, win. That's what you know how to do."
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U.S. President Donald Trump commented on graduates at the Coleman Coliseum at the University of Alabama on May 11, 2025. Trump's remarks came the day before the official opening ceremony. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Trump's speech was the first speech by the current president at the University of Alabama.
It encounters a fight back from students and non-students. The college’s Democratic chapter held a “Trend Against Trump” rally featuring former Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke and former Alabama Senator Doug Jones. The chapter also published a statement a few days before Trump’s visit to campus, expressing their “shocking” and “disgust” that “unpopular, divisive and authoritarian presidents will participate in the beginning.”
Alabama North America (NAACP) has also blasted Trump's appearance at the University of Alabama, comparing the president's remarks to "George Wallace's segregation rhetoric" and commenting on its address on its website.
A man is wearing a pro-Trump shirt walking outside the Coleman Stadium before the awards ceremony held at the University of Alabama on May 1, 2025. (Photography by Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images)
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