Biden defends Europe's democracy as Trump undercuts it at home.
The ex-president is making a case against his 2024 contender - that the West is encountering an extraordinary challenge from adversarial powers inside and out in terms of upholding the law.
However, Trump's strength also indicates that the focal point of Biden's tour - a tribute on Friday in Normandy to one of former President Ronald Reagan's most renowned speeches - could go unheard by many Americans. The ex-president is demonstrating in every speech and public performance that the allure of demagoguery, the vilification of outsiders, and the rhetoric of extremism is still as powerful as it was prior to World War II.
The 80th anniversary celebrations of the D-Day invasion that led to the liberation of Europe have morphed into a rallying cry for Western officials highlighting the resurgence of political extremism. They have used their encounters and speeches to draw parallels between Putin's brutal assault on Ukraine and Adolf Hitler's lightning war.
It's nothing novel for a modern US president to visit Europe and exhort the shared history of triumphing over tyranny. However, no other commander-in-chief has undertaken such a mission following his antecedent's attempt to destroy democracy to remain in power. The prospect of Biden losing re-election and the potential for a resurgence of the turmoil Trump inflicted on European allies has loomed ominously over the expedition.
On Friday, Biden will convey a poignant message by adopting the legacy of Reagan - one of the greatest Republican presidents - to propose that his adversary is an affront to US and GOP traditions. In 1984, atop a cliff stormed by US Army Rangers on June 6, 1944, known as the Pointe du Hoc, the 40th president denounced American isolationism. He also invoked the battle against Nazism to summon the West to a renewed and ultimately successful Cold War struggle against another form of extremism - Kremlin-style communism. Biden will imply that Trump, with his "America First" foreign policy, attacks on the legitimacy of the open and fair 2020 election, and use of extreme anti-immigrant rhetoric that echoes that of the Nazis, is conjuring up the same forces that precipitated global conflict.
Can the Gipper sway voters for Biden?
Biden, who will likely be the last US president to have been a native of World War II, is requesting Americans to reclaim the same dedication to democratic ideals as the greatest generation whose last members are fast disappearing. "In memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here, let us be worthy of their sacrifice," Biden said Thursday, surrounded by the graves of more than 9,000 Americans. "Let us be the generation that when history is written about our time - in 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now - it will be said: 'When the moment came, we met the moment. We stood strong. Our alliances were strengthened. And we saved democracy in our time as well.'"
That a president must make such an argument speaks volumes about how the political climate has evolved since Reagan addressed the same location 40 years ago and moved many observers to tears by referring to the boys of Pointe du Hoc. "These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who scaled the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped win a war."
Back then, the Republican Party was an internationalist, pro-democracy organization. It boasted about how Reagan won the Cold War until Trump blended his concoction of isolationism and populism that views Putin more favorably than US allies. It is that pivotal change in perspective that may mean Biden's address will be a memorable piece of political theater but boast scant political persuasion. The White House and the Biden campaign won't anticipate that invoking the essence of the Gipper will disrupt Trump's stranglehold on Republican base voters.
But the president is attempting to win over disenchanted national security Republicans fondly recalling the days when a robust foreign policy served as a fundamental pillar of the reputed conservative policy platform. And he's particularly aiming to entice some of the tens of thousands of Republicans who voted for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley during the party's primary long after she had suspended her campaign.
The former United Nations ambassador under Trump might have endorsed her ex-boss and implicated Biden of lacking resolve on the global stage. But she's considerably aligned with the current president's global outlook and contempt for autocrats than she is with Trump's brand of strongman appeasement.
Meanwhile, Trump's return to the campaign trail since his felony sentence in a hush money trial in New York coincides with Biden's overseas trip. Trump seized the opportunity to issue another invitation to Putin, an indicted war criminal he kowtowed to while in office. The supposed GOP nominee asserted that he'd be able to free an imprisoned American journalist.
"Evan Gershkovich, the reporter for The Wall Street Journal who is being held by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the election," Trump declared in a video posted on Truth Social on Tuesday. "But definitely before I assume office, he will be home, he will be safe. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia will do that for me ... and I don't believe he'll do it for anyone else."
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Trump has tried numerous times to show his close connection with Putin, like the time he said in a news conference in Helsinki that he trusted Putin more than the American intelligence agencies he led, who were present with him.
His recent involvement in the case of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter being held by Russia for spying, is intriguing since the US government has been quietly working to free him and another imprisoned American, former Marine Paul Whelan. This could mean that Russia might assume Trump might give them better terms or that the Biden administration might be willing to pay a higher price before the elections. If Russia were to release Gershkovich to Trump, it would be a significant achievement for him, solidifying his ties with Russia.
Trump's interactions with Putin occur during a time when the Russian president is being restricted from the global scene due to the brutal assaults on civilians in Ukraine and being the biggest threat to European unity since the war that Biden had recently commemorated. Trump's attempts to use an American prisoner's plight to score political points is one of the more cynical modern election tactics. Russia downplayed Trump's remarks on Thursday, stating that Gershkovich's release would only happen through reciprocity.
Biden criticized Putin when he was excluded from the D-Day anniversary even though the Soviet Union played a crucial role in the defeat of Nazism. "He's not a good person - he's a dictator, and he's trying so hard to keep his country together while still continuing this assault," Biden told ABC News in an interview. Zelensky of Ukraine, who was present at the commemoration, took Putin's place.
While Trump's campaign event as a convicted felon on Thursday revealed why this election could be very close, it showed that he effectively uses economic and immigration issues to counter Biden's claims that his skewed democratic and autocratic tendencies make him unfit to be president again. However, Trump has refused to accept the outcome of November's election and has even hinted at using presidential power to prosecute his political opponents, posing a threat to the legal system.
In an interview with "Dr. Phil Primetime", Trump expressed, "Revenge does take time, I will say that, and sometimes revenge can be justified" when asked about the jury's verdict in his trial. At the Thursday town hall, he focused on issues such as the high cost of living, difficulty afforded groceries, and the perceived insecurity caused by undocumented migrants at the border, which he believes will help him in his bid for presidency with the Republican base.
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Despite Trump's conviction in a hush money trial, he continues to use political tactics, such as hinting at potential pardons or prison swaps, to garner support from his base. This tactic was evident when he suggested that Russian president Vladimir Putin could release American journalist Evan Gershkovich before his potential presidential term.
The prospect of Biden losing the 2024 election and Trump's return to power has raised concerns among Western officials, given Trump's often contentious relationship with democracy and US allies. In his speech commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day, Biden implied that Trump's "America First" foreign policy, attacks on the 2020 election, and anti-immigrant rhetoric are akin to the forces that led to global conflict, which Reagan strongly opposed.
