Overview
- Vice President JD Vance delivered the commencement address to the Air Force Academy Class of 2026 and commissioned more than 900 cadets in a ceremony Thursday at Falcon Stadium.
- During the speech Vance preemptively told cadets, "Now, you can't boo me. I'm the Vice President of the United States," a line that drew only mild, awkward laughter.
- He framed the next era of warfare as driven by artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and cyber operations and urged officers to apply adaptability and moral judgment to those technologies.
- Vance made a self‑deprecating weather joke about calling a rainy day "beautiful," and his team canceled a planned Denver appearance hours after the graduation.
- Reporters noted that uniformed service members are restricted from political demonstrations and connected the tepid reception to prior public hecklings of Vance and to debate over whether recent U.S. actions in places like Venezuela and Iran match the administration's stated foreign‑policy shift.