LYNCHBURG, Va. _ Seeking respite from the tumult he set off in Washington by firing the FBI director, President Donald Trump Saturday spoke before a friendly crowd of tens of thousands at Liberty University, where he lashed out at what he charges are "pathetic" critics and an establishment class trying to undermine him.
Trump returned to his outsider message in his address to the evangelical Christian university's graduating class. He spoke about challenging the Washington order as he grapples with a political crisis that keeps worsening as White House explanations for the FBI shake-up shift.
"I've seen firsthand how the system is broken," Trump said, and how a "small group of failed voices" attempts to dictate "how to live and how to think."
"No one has ever achieved anything significant without a chorus of critics standing on the sidelines explaining why it can't be done," Trump said. "Nothing is easier or more pathetic than being a critic, because they're people that can't get the job done. But the future belongs to the dreamers, not to the critics."
But Trump himself has given his critics a lot of ammunition over the past several days. He admitted that FBI Director James Comey's firing was motivated in part by the agency's investigation of Russia connections to Trump's own circle. He fired off a threatening Twitter post seeming to warn Comey that he may have taped private conversations between the two. Trump's efforts at damage control only intensified the concerns of Republicans and Democrats that he is trying to undermine the independence of the nation's top law enforcement agency.
On Saturday, his response to the backlash was a speech in which he praised courage of conviction and warned how those who lack it don't have "the guts or the stamina" to do what's right. "Being an outsider is fine. Embrace the label," Trump said. "Because it's the outsiders who change the world and who make a real and lasting difference."
The speech was Trump's first public appearance outside the White House since he fired Comey Tuesday. On Saturday, Justice Department officials planned to interview several candidates to replace Comey, who served less than half of the 10-year term he began after being nominated by President Barack Obama and overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate in 2013.
Trump said he could make a "fast decision" on a new director before he leaves for his first foreign trip Friday. Most of the potential nominees are "well known," the president said on Air Force One as he prepared to travel from Washington for the commencement speech.
"They've been vetted over their lifetime essentially," he said. "But very well-known, highly respected, really talented people. And that's what we want for the FBI."
Trump basked in the warm reception he received from an announced crowd of more than 50,000 at Liberty's football stadium.
The university's president, Jerry Falwell, was an early backer of Trump during his 2016 campaign. He provided critical validation for the twice-divorced New York billionaire among a potentially skeptical but critically important demographic in the Republican primary: evangelical voters.
Introducing the president, Falwell, the son of the famous Baptist pastor and televangelist of the same name, praised Trump and his family for risking his business empire and reputation "all for the country they love." He listed early accomplishments of note to evangelicals, including the confirmation of Neil M. Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, and a recent executive order directing the Justice Department not to enforce the so-called Johnson Amendment that bars religious institutions from engaging in political activity.
Trump is the second sitting president to deliver a commencement address at Liberty University, after George H.W. Bush in 1990. He was presented with an honorary doctorate of laws.
"As long as I am president, no one is ever going to stop you from practicing your faith, or preaching what's in your heart," Trump said, referring to his religious liberty executive order.
Saturday's address, the White House said, was meant to project "encouragement" and "optimism" to graduates. But, much as Obama did in 2016 when he addressed an equally friendly crowd at Howard University, a historically black school in Washington, Trump used his speech to sketch his own political vision.
It was the first of two commencement addresses Trump will deliver this year. On Wednesday, he will address graduating cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
