Speaking at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia on Sunday, Donald Trump treated the U.S. Navy’s 250th anniversary celebration as what he called a “rally.”
The event was meant to honor Navy cadets and officers. But for much of his nearly hour-long speech, Trump attacked Democrats over the ongoing government shutdown.
The shutdown, now in its second week, has left thousands of federal workers without pay. If it continues past October 15, cadets and other service members at Norfolk will stop receiving their paychecks.
“I want you to know that despite the current Democrat induced shutdown, we will get our service members every last penny. Don’t worry about it,” Trump told the crowd.
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At one point, Trump tried to get the cadets to boo former President Barack Obama. He emphasized Obama’s middle name, saying, “Barack Hussein Obama,” and paused, waiting to see if anyone would react.
But the crowd stayed mostly silent.
Trump tries to goad the Navy into booing “Barack Hussein Obama” but is met mostly with silence pic.twitter.com/RONmjQglzB
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 5, 2025
The moment was awkward. Trump did get some cheers when he promised pay raises for service members and criticized Democrats over immigration, but he also wandered into unrelated topics.
He brought up the FBI investigation after his 2016 election win, again claiming falsely that “Obama and his top people rigged the election.”
He even promoted a UFC fight he plans to host on the White House lawn. Then he praised himself for sending National Guard troops to Washington, D.C.
“We’re doing it like nobody’s ever done it before. So I just want to tell you: you’re very close to D.C.; the restaurants are thriving. The restaurants were dying. They were closing, one after another. Now they’re opening up, they’re thriving,” he said.
Most of the audience just listened quietly.
Trump also returned to one of his usual points, blaming “woke” culture for military struggles.
“We won World War I and World War II. We won everything in between. We won everything before. And all of a sudden they decided to change the name. They went woke, then, too, you know. Woke is a long-term word,” he said.
A few scattered shouts came from the crowd, but no loud applause.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
