PARIS (AP) — President Joe Biden will end his trip to France by paying his respects at a U.S. military cemetery that Donald Trump notably skipped when he was president, hoping his final stop on Sunday will mark the deployment of the elections in November will be in great relief.
It’s a fitting end to five days in which Trump was an unspoken but unavoidable presence. On the surface, the trip marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day and celebrated the alliance between the United States and France. But during an election year in which Trump has questioned fundamental insights about America’s global role, Biden has embraced his Republican predecessor — and would-be successor — as a latent enemy.
Each ode to the transatlantic partnership was a reminder that Trump could upend those relationships. Any reference to democracy was a counterpoint to his rival’s efforts to overturn a presidential election. The numerous exhortations to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia contrasted with Trump’s skepticism about providing U.S. aid.
Biden’s paean to the battle between democracy and autocracy won praise in Europe, where the prospect of a return to Trump’s turbulent rule has caused no shortage of fear. But it remains to be seen how the message will resonate with American voters, as Biden’s campaign struggles to connect the dire warnings the Democratic president so often issues about his rival to people’s everyday concerns.
Biden will end his visit to France by underscoring the contrast once again as he honors America’s war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery. Located about an hour’s drive northwest of Paris, the cemetery is the final resting place of more than 2,000 American soldiers who fought in World War I.
During a 2018 trip to France, Trump skipped plans to go to the cemetery, a decision the White House at the time blamed on the weather. However, later reports said Trump told aides he did not want to go because he viewed the dead soldiers as “suckers” and “losers.” Trump has denied the comments, although they were later confirmed by his then-chief of staff, John Kelly.
Trump’s alleged insults have become a regular feature of Biden’s campaign speeches, including at an April rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
“These soldiers were heroes, just like every American who has served this nation,” Biden said. “If we believe otherwise, that alone is a disqualification for anyone to hold this position.”
Maura Sullivan, a former Navy officer who served on the American Battle Monuments Commission under President Barack Obama, said Biden’s visit would “set the example and do what a president should do.” Sullivan, now an official with the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said “voters can draw their own conclusions from that.”
Biden’s trip was full of emotional moments, with the president’s eyes heavy after meeting with World War II veterans. A 21-gun salute cast eerie smoke over 9,388 white marble headstones at the American Cemetery in Normandy.
“This is the most remarkable trip I have ever taken,” Biden said Saturday evening, his last in Paris before returning to the US.
His comments in recent days have also been fraught with political overtones.
On Thursday, Biden said during the anniversary ceremonies in Normandy that D-Day reminded us that alliances make the United States stronger. He called it “a lesson that I pray we Americans will never forget.” He also highlighted how the war effort relied on immigrants, women and people of color who were too often overlooked by history.
Then on Friday he went to Pointe du Hoc, a spot on the coast where Army Rangers climbed cliffs to overcome Nazi defenses on D-Day. This was also the site of one of President Ronald Reagan’s most memorable speeches in 1984 about the struggle between the West and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
By following in the footsteps of an iconic Republican, Biden has honed his appeal to traditional conservatives, who are often frustrated by Trump’s isolationist vision. Biden called on Americans to protect democracy like the Rangers who climbed the cliffs, a message that synced with campaign rhetoric that portrayed his election opponent as an existential threat to American values.
While Biden was in France, his campaign announced it had hired former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s former chief of staff to reach out to Republican voters. Kinzinger clashed with Trump’s foreign policy and efforts to overturn the last presidential election.
At Pointe du Hoc, Biden said the Army Rangers “fought in the 1930s and 1940s to overcome a hateful ideology. Does anyone doubt that they would not move heaven and earth to overcome the hateful ideologies of today?”
Trump, in turn, has argued that the US should pay more attention to its own problems and less to foreign alliances and entanglements. He has also routinely downplayed the importance of U.S. partnerships, suggesting that the U.S. could abandon its treaty obligations to defend European allies if it does not pay enough for its own defense.
Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian who wrote a book about Pointe du Hoc and Reagan’s speech, said Biden had “big shoes to step in” by choosing the same location.
Biden’s speech “was not equal to Reagan’s in grandeur, nor could it be,” Brinkley said. Still, he said Biden “said the right words about why democracy matters.”
Paul Begala, a veteran Democratic strategist, said it could help Biden politically “to continue to stand where Reagan stood.”
He noted that Biden is struggling with younger voters but appears to be gaining strength among older voters, who may be more receptive to memories of Reagan’s speech four decades ago.
“He needs a lot of Reagan Republicans to offset his challenges with younger voters,” he said.
Biden’s trip was also interrupted by the splendor of a state visit to Paris.
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a ceremony at the Arc du Triomphe, where four fighter jets flew overhead, and hosted a banquet at the Elysee presidential palace.
“United we stand, divided we fall,” Macron said as he toasted Biden. “Allied we are, and allied we will remain.”
Overall, Biden’s visit moved at a slower pace than other foreign trips. The 81-year-old president had no public events on his first day in Paris after arriving on an overnight flight, and did not hold a news conference with reporters as usual. John Kirby, a national security spokesman, said this was necessary to “prepare in advance for the heavy fighting” in the following days.
“There’s a lot on the calendar,” he said.
Yet it stood in contrast to Macron’s tendency to offer prestigious guests an intensive program with a mix of official meetings, business talks, cultural events and private dinners in chic restaurants.
When the 46-year-old French leader hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping last month, the two-day agenda was packed with activities, including a trip to the Pyrenees near the border with Spain, where Macron spent time as a child.
___
Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report.
