White House transcript of President Donald J. Trump’s remarks to Riverwood Middle School 8th grade commencement, June 2, 2025.

Good morning. You’re very lucky to have me here. Very lucky. I’m one popular cookie. That’s so true. I am. Lots of other middle schools wanted me. But I’m here. So, congratulations.

I’m thinking, if your teachers are smart, they’ll have you write about how fortunate you are to have me here. Just an idea. I don’t know for sure. It’s what I would do if I were a teacher. But I’m not. I’m president. But being a teacher is still very good, very great, if you can’t be president or work in a factory. We had teachers in the 1950s. They were the best. The best teachers.

Anyway, let me look at my speech here. I’m supposed to tell you that education is so important. It is. So very important. Let me tell you why.

We need to beat all the other countries that keep sending us murderers and mentally insane people. But so many of our schools are failing; they’re terrible. It’s true, you can look it up. All these other countries, total losers, are beating us. In fact, we’re dead last. The only countries we’re beating are the ones I’ve never heard of. It’s not good.

It’s a problem. We’ve got these big, beautiful deals I’m making with China and Saudi Arabia and the queen of England. But we’ve got these terrible schools. It’s no good. That’s why I did those tariffs. Other presidents didn’t have the guts. They ruined the country. I’m fixing it. You’re welcome. But that means we need people right here who can make our French dressing and Swiss cheese and Chinese checkers and IKEA furniture. You need to learn French and Swiss and Ikean so you can do that.

That’s more important than dolls. You don’t need thirty dolls. You just need three. You don’t need 250 pencils. You just need five. Really, you just need one. And with AI and computers, you don’t really need any. I said this to the guy who invented AI. He said, “Sir, that’s so true. You’re smarter than any of our computer people.”

Look at me. I went to the best schools, the best ones, and now I’m president. It’s a terrific thing. Terrific. For me, for your parents, for the country. I could work in a factory. I could. The best people have said so. But that’s your job.

When I was about your age, my father, Fred, a very, very great man—he sometimes called me husky, but I wasn’t; I was just the right weight for my height, everyone said so. And I’ve married many beautiful women. So, my father told me he’d give me a little bit of money to get started. But only if I finished school. When I did, he gave me a little bit, just a little bit. A million dollars. Just enough to get started. You need to stay in school, too. That first million helps. It does, that’s so true.

I sent my own children to the very best schools. The best ones. That big, beautiful diploma on the wall is very helpful. But some of those colleges have now become terrible places full of radical communist thugs who hate America. We’re fixing that. My lawyers, very good lawyers, are handling that. There’s a transition but we’ll get there. It’s like I told Putin and the queen of Iran. We can all be friends.

My kids help run my very, very successful businesses. Now, I’ll be honest—because I’m very honest—my kids would work for me even if they’d dropped out. Because that’s the kind of father I am. So tell your parents to be very successful. That’s so important. Then you’ll always have a nice job.

I’m not just the president, you know. I also own so many of the best properties, the best hotels. If you haven’t stayed at a Trump Hotel, you should. Tell your parents. The rates are very, very reasonable—the best for all the wonderful things you get.

And when you stay in a Trump property, you don’t just get one little bar of soap. You get three or four big bars. And all the pencils you want. The room might cost a few dollars more but that’s because they’re the best. So much luxury. That’s why people stop me to say, “Thank you Mr. Trump, sir. Won’t you please serve just one more term, sir? Just one more?”

That happens all the time. When I was in school, my teacher kept getting answers wrong. She was a very stupid person. The worst. So I kept standing up and correcting her. I was in 1st grade. Maybe 2nd. And she just kept telling me, “Thank you, Donald. You’re the smartest boy, so much smarter than me.” My classmates would tell me, “That’s the bravest thing I’ve ever seen, sir.” Am I the smartest? The bravest? I don’t know. But that’s what the best people tell me.

People said to me, when they heard I was coming here—some of the most famous, very best people—they said, “Why go talk to little children? You go to best parties with the most beautiful women. You play on the most amazing golf courses. You live in the best house. Why go talk to children?”

But I said—to these very famous people—we spend so much money on your school but you are still far behind those students in China and other places I’ve never heard of. Sad! So I thought I should come over and talk to you and tell you this. You should work hard in school, even if you’re not very good-looking. You can learn about poems and crypto and tariffs and Ikean. And then you’ll get bigger. Look at me. I was once very short, like you all. But now I’m very tall. So study hard.

Now, as you finish middle school, I want to leave you with some very, very important advice. Don’t be afraid of leverage. Hire good lawyers. Get into crypto. And the best crypto out there, the best, is the $TRUMP coin. Now is the right time for your dad to buy it. If he buys enough, you get a White House tour.

See your teachers? They’re never going to build equity, because they have no leverage. Sad. Me? I’m very rich, so much richer than people you may think are rich. And I just tell the truth, okay? If you stop buying dolls and start buying crypto—and the $TRUMP coin is the crypto you want, believe me—you can help make America great again. Thank you.

Frederick Hess is an executive editor of Education Next and the author of the blog “Old School with Rick Hess.”