Biden will deliver a defense of democracy on D-Day that will hit on campaign themes

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The ceremony to commemorate the D-Day invasion was held on Thursday, with President Biden and French President Emanuel Macron in attendance.

It’s a pilgrimage that many American presidents have made, but as Biden does it, the lessons of 80 years ago are being debated once again — and hold particular resonance for his reelection bid.

Europe is once again a place of war as Russia seeks to overwhelm neighboring Ukraine, as the event evoked that historic and bloody day.

“He will take full advantage of the opportunity to talk about the moment we are living in: of democracies working together on behalf of their peoples — but also the importance of American leadership,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters.

At that point in the war, the United States was still on the sidelines. American allies in Europe were under attack, and Hitler was on his march in Europe. Like then, Biden argued, this is no ordinary time.

The underlying theme of Biden’s address will be unavoidable. Biden has framed his reelection campaign against former President Donald Trump in stark terms, as he did at a fundraiser in New York earlier this week.

Biden takes pride in seeing the U.S. allies backed up by NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and adding two new members.

While at the D-Day commemoration on Thursday, Biden is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and they will discuss the state of play in the war with Russia, Sullivan said. Biden recently authorized Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapons to strike inside Russia, an escalation as the war grinds into its third year.

Republicans in the Trump wing of the GOP question the usefulness of the US’s assistance to Ukraine. And Trump himself has repeatedly toyed with the idea of the U.S. not keeping its commitment to the NATO alliance.

In February, Donald Trump said America would not defend allies that do not spend enough money on their own defense if Russia attacked them. In fact. I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want,” Trump said.

The NATO alliance and its commitment to mutual defense grew out of the experience of World War II. Most Americans still support the alliance according to polling done by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

After D-Day, we realized the security of our liberty and prosperity depends on the security of our allies around the world, says Ivo Daalder who heads the Chicago Council.

“Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago and is not the answer today,” Biden said. “We know the dark forces that these heroes fought against 80 years ago. They never stop: aggression and greed, the desire to dominate and change borders by force. These are perennial.”

A lot has changed since 1984. The Berlin Wall came down. The Cold War ended. The Soviet Union dissolved, only for Russian President Vladimir Putin to decades later attempt to rebuild it.

Heather Conley is director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and said that after theCold War, it was difficult to understand what our allies were for.

“The American people have some important questions to ask about what’s important about our security, our level of debt,” said Conley. These are the questions to ask. You need to engage them in a conversation.

Conley, who was a senior official in former President George W. Bush’s State Department, said she’s glad Biden is giving the speech this week. She wished he had made the case more forcefully.

War-Two Veterans in Normandy and Their Roles in World War II: Why the U.S. and NATO Will Not Walk Away from Ukraine

Dozens of WWII veterans who were welcomed as heroes when they arrived this week in France were also present to honor veterans who died in the conflict and to celebrate freedom.

It is the highest honor for the American people and the commander in chief to salute the veterans here in Normandy, Biden said.

“You came to join our efforts to make France a free nation, and your own soldiers, and that’s why I’m here,” Macron told the former service members. “And you are back here today — at home, if I may say.”

The crowd applauded when the group of veterans were presented with the Legion of Honor, France’s highest decoration. The cemetery and its memorial sits just inland from the famed Omaha Beach, on the shore where more than 150,000 U.S. and Allied troops streamed ashore in a massive amphibious assault.

Biden says the U.S., NATO and its allies will not walk away from their commitments to Ukraine. He warned of a ripple effect of violence and aggression, should Russian succeed in subjugating Ukraine.

The autocrats of the world are keeping a close eye on how the situation is in Ukraine, to make sure this illegal aggression does not go unaddressed. We cannot let that happen.”

“We need a world where human rights are sacred and where people can live in freedom, where aggression is a sin, and where all people can live in freedom,” Austin said. “At this time in history, we must again stand firm against aggression and tyranny.”

Source: Biden commemorates D-Day invasion’s 80th anniversary, linking it to Ukraine conflict

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“What the allies did together 80 years ago far surpassed anything we could have done on our own,” Biden said, urging Americans not to forget that lesson.

“Together we won the war,” he said. Europe, including our former enemies, was rebuilt. It was an investment in what became [a] shared and a prosperous future.”

“Remember, the price of unchecked tyranny is the blood of the young and the brave,” Biden said. In their hour of trial, the Allied forces of D-Day did their duty. Now the question for us is, in our hour of trial, will we do ours?”