West Point cancels ceremony to honor Tom Hanks as ‘outstanding US citizen’

In addition to his storied acting career, Hanks served as national spokesperson for the World War II Memorial in Washington DC and supported the late Republican senator Bob Dole’s fundraiser to create the Dwight D Eisenhower Memorial, according to the alumni association’s original announcement.

It’s not clear how honoring Hanks conflicts with “preparing cadets”, but the actor has donated to Democrats; received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama; and endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Since taking office a second time, Donald Trump has taken a litany of actions against his perceived enemies. For example, he has revoked the security clearances and details of some people in the Biden administration and of people who served in his first administration whom he deemed “bad” or “disloyal”; blocked some news organizations from the Pentagon workspace and White House press pool; and revoked security clearances of – and investigated – law firms that were “very, very dishonest”.