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President Donald Trump was joined on Wednesday in the White House by America’s finest warriors wounded in the line of duty, demonstrating yet again that his administration has tremendous respect and gratitude for the men and women who protect this great country.
“We have a very special group of wounded veterans, who are amazing – I’ve actually visited many of them in the hospital,” he said.
It was a heartwarming and sobering moment as the president was surrounded by warriors wearing prosthetic limbs – a pointed reminder of the cost of defending American liberty. These same vets also expressed their relief and gratitude that President Trump was in the Oval Office.
“An honor to serve,” one veteran said. “You’re worth it, this country’s worth it.”
One veteran in the room was wounded 15 years ago in Afghanistan and has endured more than 100 surgeries on his journey to recovery, his wife said, expressing optimism that Trump would continue to reform VA care and processes related to it.
The president even dispensed special gun-metal tokens to the veterans that appeared to be stamped with the presidential seal. “We have a spirit that people haven’t seen in years…” Trump said. “We’ve been through so much for the last four years…it’s really an honor to be with you, all of you.”
During Wednesday’s Oval Office event, the president signed a number of executive orders, largely aimed at addressing American education.
He was also joined by the secretaries of commerce, education, and labor, in addition to special guest Annette Albright, a former schoolteacher and advocate for eliminating violence in schools.
The president signed the following orders:
- An EO aimed at charging federal departments and agencies to enforce standing laws on the books with respect to foreign gifts to American universities. White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf explained that the Trump administration believed some universities, like Harvard, “have routinely violated” laws requiring such disclosures.
- An EO to reform accreditation for higher education. Scharf explained that many colleges relied on “woke ideologies instead of accrediting based on merit and performance.” This EO is aimed at forcing accreditation to be based on meritocracy rather than “how woke these universities have gotten,” he said.
- An EO taking existing law from the president’s first term in office to set up a White House initiative on HCBUs (historically Black colleges and universities) to ensure that these institutions are “able to do their jobs as effectively and as efficiently as possible,” according to Scharf.
- An EO related to artificial intelligence education. The purpose of this order is to ensure that America’s schoolchildren and younger workforce are trained adequately for the “workforce of the future” by training them to use AI-based tools with the goal of being competitive in a global market. President Trump remarked on this order, “AI is where it seems to be at, we have literally trillions of dollars being invested in AI.”
- An EO on workforce development that will “charge numerous departments and agencies to reshape the way that we do workforce development, Scharf explained. The goal here is to up the total number of American apprentices up to one million to ensure an adequately trained workforce is available for industrial jobs and newer industries.
- An EO on school discipline policies, which Scharf said under the Biden Department of Justice “made it almost impossible for schools to enforce adequate disciplinary policies.” This EO will revoke this guidance. Education Secretary Linda McMahon commented during the signing that his order “gives teachers the authority” to administer appropriate discipline to classroom disrupters.
- Finally, an EO related to the Disparate Impact Theory, which “underlies” DEI and CRT culture, Scharf said. This will instruct federal agencies to “no longer rely” on DIT and to focus instead on “fairness” and “merit.”
After the signing of the EO on classroom discipline, Annette Albright was asked to share her comments. “I am so honored to be here,” she said.
She praised President Trump for working to assuage violence on campus nationwide and noted, “I feel that we’re on the right path, and I’m just honored to be here.”
