A rumor that circulated on-line in Could 2025 claimed U.S. Navy Academy West Level cadets silently revolted towards President Donald Trump’s attendance to ship the graduation deal with at their Could 24 commencement ceremony, secretly coming to an settlement beforehand to refuse to shake his hand.
Quite a few social media customers copied and pasted an alleged report about this matter attributed to the writer identify Robert Hawks. The story’s headline learn, “West Level Cadets’ Silent Revolt—Nameless Graduates and School Reveal Why President Trump Did not Shake Their Fingers.”
For instance, this rumor appeared on Bluesky, Fb (archived), LinkedIn (archived), Reddit (archived), Threads (archived), Fact Social (archived), X (archived) and different (archived) platforms (archived).
(Picture courtesy of @jg1234567/X)
The supervisor of a Fb profile bearing Hawks’ identify first featured the report in regards to the declare in a publish (archived) on Could 28, which stated cadets’ loyalty to their honor code led them to determine “behind closed doorways” that they might refuse to shake Trump’s hand.
That cadet honor code, authentically printed on the West Level web site (archived) and displayed on the Navy Academy campus in West Level, New York, reads, “A Cadet won’t lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those that do.” Hawks’ publish included photographs showing to point out former U.S. presidents shaking fingers at previous navy department diploma ceremonies.
(Picture courtesy of Robert Hawks/Fb)
Nonetheless, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo discovered no information media retailers credibly reporting that West Level cadets organized to refuse to shake Trump’s hand. We had been unable to find any proof to verify or disprove the rumor a few deliberate handshake refusal, as of this writing, and consequently we’ve got not rated the declare.
As reported later on this story, whereas Trump did depart the commencement early, breaking a convention held by latest previous presidents who stayed for diploma ceremonies for navy branches, video confirmed him shaking the fingers of a number of cadets and different officers throughout his time on the venue. Additional, Trump honored the custom of staying for the diploma ceremonies at varied navy department graduations throughout all 4 years of his first time period in workplace.
In a press release to Snopes, the White Home referred to as the information of Trump leaving early “a non-story,” and claimed (with out but offering proof) that Trump shook “tons of” of fingers of navy leaders and cadets earlier than delivering his commencement speech.
Hawks’ profile didn’t characteristic any disclaimers saying the publish was fiction or satire. The person’s publish timeline contained a combination of genuine, unfounded and fabricated content material.
For instance, whereas one fabricated story (archived) from Could 20 informed of the White Home asserting a murderous “purge night time,” different posts reported genuine information a few man’s execution (archived) and plans for a parade on Trump’s birthday (archived).
Two AI-detection web sites discovered a excessive chance of Hawks utilizing an artificial-intelligence (AI) instrument to write down the report, whereas 4 others concluded it was doubtless {that a} human wrote the textual content.
Snopes contacted Hawks by way of Messenger to ask questions on their publish, together with about what impressed them to write down the story, in the event that they categorize a few of their content material as fiction, satire or parody, and likewise in the event that they used AI. We additionally emailed public affairs personnel at West Level to ask if they might touch upon the matter and make sure the reality. We’ll replace this text if we obtain extra data.
Trump’s early departure, golf rumor
Trump’s speech on the West Level commencement, occurring at Michie Stadium, featured moments during which he instantly addressed cadets in addition to political feedback just like these heard at his previous marketing campaign rallies.
Throughout Trump’s remarks, he singled out cadets’ educational accomplishments and requested a few of them to face for recognition. He additionally referred to as onstage no less than three cadets and shook their fingers.
Close to the tip of his speech, he signaled he deliberate to go away previous to the handing out of diplomas, asserting, “So I simply wish to congratulate you all. I am going again now to take care of Russia, to take care of China.” As he left the stage, he shook 4 extra fingers. He additionally shook the hand of Lt. Gen. Steven W. Gilland, the Navy Academy’s superintendent.
As Snopes reported, Trump’s early departure broke a convention at navy commencements held for years by different previous presidents, during which they’d stayed after delivering their speeches to watch and take part within the handing out of diplomas. These presidents included, for instance, all years served by Joe Biden, Trump throughout his first time period, Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
Moreover, former Vice President Kamala Harris delivered graduation speeches at navy department graduations in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, together with staying to shake fingers and observe diploma ceremonies in all 4 years, as did Vice President JD Vance following his graduation deal with on the U.S. Naval Academy in Could 2025.
The same rumor that circulated on the identical time — which claimed Trump performed golf, or {that a} video confirmed him taking part in golf, within the hours after leaving the West Level commencement and returning to Trump Nationwide Golf Membership Bedminster in New Jersey — additionally lacked definitive proof. Readers can study extra particulars about that matter in our earlier truth test.
Sources:
“AI Content material Detector.” QuillBot, https://quillbot.com/ai-content-detector.
“AI Detector.” Scribbr, https://www.scribbr.com/ai-detector/.
“—.” Phrasly, https://phrasly.ai/ai-detector.
“AI Detector – Free AI Checker for ChatGPT, GPT-4, Gemini & Extra.” Copyleaks, https://copyleaks.com/ai-content-detector.
“AI Detector – Trusted AI Checker for ChatGPT, GPT4 & Gemini.” ZeroGPT, https://www.zerogpt.com/.
“Cadet Honor Code.” U.S. Navy Academy West Level, https://www.westpoint.edu/about/commandant/simon-center-for-the-professional-military-ethic/cadet-honor-code.
DuckDuckGo – Safety. Privateness. Peace of Thoughts. https://duckduckgo.com.
Google. https://www.google.com/.
“GPTZero Dashboard.” GPTZero Dashboard, https://app.gptzero.me/.
Kim, Seung Min, and Ali Swenson. “Trump’s Speech to West Level Graduates Mixes Reward, Politics and Grievances.” The Related Press, 24 Could 2025, https://apnews.com/article/trump-commencement-army-west-point-graduates-ecbc20a0ce46350618dabae573e40556.
Liles, Jordan. “Unpacking Declare Trump Left West Level Commencement Early with out Honoring Diploma Ceremony Custom, Then Performed Golf.” Snopes, 27 Could 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-west-point-shake-hands-golf/.
“LIVE: Kamala Harris Delivers Graduation at US Navy Academy West Level.” YouTube, Reuters, 27 Could 2023, https://www.youtube.com/reside/4oKiKVarZ3g.
“LIVE: Trump at West Level Graduation | FOX 4 Information.” YouTube, FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Price, 24 Could 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcqYT7L6Zcw.
Microsoft Bing. https://www.bing.com/.
“President Trump Addresses the Military Academy’s Class of 2025.” YouTube, The White Home, 24 Could 2025, https://www.youtube.com/reside/hyULwVCcgJw.
“President Trump Goes Off-Script at West Level Graduation Speech, Brings Cadets on Stage | Information 12.” YouTube, Information 12, 24 Could 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amINBu8G0vs.
“Vice President Harris: Graduation Handle-US Air Power Academy’s 2024 Commencement Ceremony (Whole).” YouTube, The Coalition Radio Community, 2 June 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIrfLiFLS-c.
“Vice President JD Vance Addresses the Naval Academy’s Class of 2025.” YouTube, The White Home, 23 Could 2025, https://www.youtube.com/reside/bfFOQbqR0cw.
“Vice President Kamala Harris Delivers Graduation Handle to US Naval Academy’s Class of 2021.” YouTube, Yahoo Finance, 28 Could 2021, https://www.youtube.com/reside/GNEVJo-koag.
“Vice President Kamala Harris Delivers Keynote Handle at U.S. Coast Guard Academy Graduation.” YouTube, FOX 61, 18 Could 2022, https://www.youtube.com/reside/TlPcC8NTJd4.
Yahoo | Mail, Climate, Search, Politics, Information, Finance, Sports activities & Movies. https://www.yahoo.com/.