At a recent Wake Forest University commencement, longtime CBS “60 Minutes” anchor Scott Pelley shocked graduates and attendees alike with a bitter, fear-mongering rant against President Trump and conservative America — turning what should have been a celebratory moment into a partisan spectacle.
On May 19, Pelley took to the podium not to inspire, but to warn of an “insidious fear” he claimed is gripping the nation’s schools, businesses, and even private homes. His message? America is in “peril,” and it’s because of forces he refused to name explicitly — though anyone paying attention knows who he was pointing fingers at.
“Your country needs you — the country that has given you so much is calling you, the class of 2025, your country needs you and it needs you today,” Pelley intoned, launching into a sermon-like tirade that sounded more like a radical leftist manifesto than a commencement address.
He went on to claim that “our sacred rule of law is under attack,” that “journalism is under attack,” and that “universities are under attack” — all phrases designed to stoke fear and division, but conveniently ignoring how much damage decades of liberal bias and political correctness have inflicted on those very institutions.
“The fear to speak in America,” he said, complaining that people are too afraid to voice dissent — a rich claim coming from someone who benefits from a media empire that routinely censors conservative voices.
Pelley’s speech was met with polite but muted applause from the audience, who seemed unsure how to respond to the dramatic gestures and gloom-and-doom rhetoric at what should have been a joyous graduation ceremony. Meanwhile, conservatives across social media tore into the CBS anchor’s performance.
“Scott Pelley raged at Trump in an angry, unhinged commencement address at Wake Forest… as he speaks openly and freely in America,” one commentator on X (formerly Twitter) mocked.
“This self-important, sermonizing propagandist is what passes for a legacy media ‘journalist’ nowadays,” another wrote, highlighting widespread frustration with the blatant partisanship that has overtaken once-respected news outlets.
Even Juanita Broaddrick, who famously accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault, didn’t hold back, labeling Pelley a “pompous POS,” summing up the disdain many conservatives feel for his outburst.
And the criticism didn’t stop there. Many pointed out the glaring hypocrisy of Pelley’s speech in light of the \$20 billion defamation lawsuit that Trump recently filed against CBS over the network’s questionable editing of an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris during her failed presidential run. Mediation talks have only just begun, yet Pelley had the gall to rail about “attacks” on journalism.
“Did Scott Pelley mention that ‘60 Minutes’ edited Kamala’s campaign interview and helped her answer questions??” one user sarcastically asked, exposing the glaring double standards at play.
“Until he does that, his credibility is ZERO,” they added.
In the end, Pelley’s rant at Wake Forest wasn’t just a bitter attack on Trump — it was emblematic of a broader media problem. Too many so-called journalists have abandoned impartiality, turning their platforms into soapboxes for left-wing outrage. And when they use solemn occasions like graduation to push partisan fearmongering, it only deepens the divide in a country desperate for unity and honest discourse.
Class of 2025 deserved better than a politically charged sermon from a legacy media figure desperate to cling to relevance in a rapidly changing media landscape.
