President Donald Trump gives the
commencement address for the Class of 2017 at Liberty University in
Lynchburg, Va., Saturday, May 13, 2017.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
WASHINGTON -- President Trump addressed graduates at Liberty University, the Christian school whose leader was among Mr. Trump's earliest and most vocal supporters.
"As long as I am your president, no one is ever going to stop you from practicing your faith," Mr. Trump told the graduates.
Mr.
Trump's remarks Saturday on the Lynchburg, Virginia, campus marked his
first commencement address as president, and his first extended public
appearance since he fired James Comey as FBI director this week.
Jerry Falwell Jr., Liberty's president, introduced the
president and presented him with an honorary doctorate. Falwell said the
commencement crowd numbered more than 50,000, the highest ever for the
school.
Mr. Trump referred to his unlikely political rise
throughout the address. He urged the students to be "totally unafraid to
challenge entrenched interests and failed power structures," adding,
"Does that sound familiar?"
He told the students to "relish the
opportunity to be an outsider," saying outsiders "change the world and
make a real and lasting difference."
Mr. Trump said the more that
people say something can't be done, "the more you should be absolutely
determined to prove them wrong."
Members
of the Class of 2017 stand as they wait for the arrival of President
Donald Trump at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., Saturday, May 13,
2017.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
Falwell helped Mr. Trump win an overwhelming 80 percent of the white evangelical vote in 2016. He became a key surrogate and validator
for the thrice-married Mr. Trump during the campaign, frequently
traveling with Mr. Trump on the candidate's plane and appearing at
events.
Falwell often compared Mr. Trump to his later father, the
conservative televangelist Jerry Falwell, and argued that while Mr.
Trump wasn't the most religious candidate in the race, he was the man
the country needed.
Mr. Trump has spoken at Liberty University before. He courted Christians there in January 2016
with a speech that drew laughs from some in the audience when referred
to one of the Bible's books as "Two Corinthians" instead of the more
common "Second Corinthians." In that speech, Mr. Trump promised: "We're
going to protect Christianity, and I can say that. I don't have to be
politically correct."
Newly elected U.S. presidents often give
their first commencement addresses at the University of Notre Dame, the
country's best-known Roman Catholic school.
Presidents Barack
Obama, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush did so during
their first year in office. But this year, Vice President Mike Pence
will speak at Notre Dame's graduation, becoming the first vice president
to do so.
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