Former Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday delivered the commencement speech at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he took a shot at the Trump administration by encouraging the graduates to learn how to speak Russian.
Kerry said that he is often asked what the secret is to having an impact on government.
"It's recently changed," Kerry said. "I used to say 'either run for office or get a degree from the Harvard Kennedy School.' With this White House, I'd say 'buy Rosetta Stone and learn Russian.'"
The crowd cheered and applauded his comment, prompting Kerry to make another joke at the Trump administration's expense.
"Don't get upset at me, folks," Kerry said. "Opportunities have never been better for Kennedy School grads. Just think, there are thousands of jobs open in the Trump administration."
"Anybody here want to be Attorney General?" Kerry asked.
Kerry's jab comes at a time when the administration and former campaign aides are facing unsubstantiated claims by Democrats that Trump associates were colluding with Russians in 2016 to influence the presidential election.
"I did not come up here to be partisan or political or pessimistic," Kerry said. "But I need to tell the truth and together we all need to start acting on it. The worst thing that I can do is insult your intelligence by pretending that it's just smooth sailing for America and for the world."
Kerry then waged partisan attacks against Trump .
"No, this is not a normal time. It’s not normal to see a president of the United States decrying ‘so-called judges.’ It’s not normal for the leader of the country that invented the First Amendment to routinely degrade and even threaten journalists," he said. "And no, it’s not normal to see the head of the FBI fired summarily because he was investigating connections between Russia and the presidential campaign of the very man who fired him."
Kerry also compared the political atmosphere in the United States to third-world countries.
"It's not normal that when you close your eyes and you listen to the news, too often the political back and forth in America sounds too much like it does in the kinds of countries that the State Department warns Americans not to travel to," Kerry said. "No, there is nothing normal about this moment my friends and in the end, there is nothing American about it either."