President Joe Biden will speak from Pointe du Hoc this week, marking his second trip to the Normandy coast during his visit to France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day
President Joe Biden will return to Normandy for a second day during his trip to France as he tries to rally Americans in defense of democracy from Pointe du Hoc, a legendary spot along the coast where Army Rangers scaled cliffs during the D-Day invasion.
The site’s prominence in American folklore was partly established by President Ronald Reagan, who delivered one of his most famous speeches there in 1984.
Like Reagan before him, Biden hopes to use the tale of the Rangers’ victory to advance his own vision for the country’s global role. The Democratic president is wrestling with two grueling wars — one between Russia and Ukraine in Europe, the other between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East — while also trying to reorient U.S. foreign policy to confront China’s rising power in Asia.
Although overseas speeches are typically nonpartisan, Biden’s rhetoric will dovetail with his reelection message, which has portrayed Donald Trump as a threat to American values and democracy. The former Republican president, who is seeking another term in the White House, has continued to lie about his 2020 election loss and threatened to dismantle U.S. commitments overseas.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters that Biden’s speech would focus on sacrifices made by U.S. soldiers during “an existential fight between a dictatorship and freedom.»
«He’ll talk about the dangers of isolationism and how if we bow to dictators and fail to stand up to them, they keep going and ultimately America and the world pays a greater price,” Sullivan added.
