By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden heads to France on Tuesday to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day on a trip designed to underscore his commitment to U.S. allies in Europe and contrast his vision of democracy with his 2024 political opponent, Donald Trump.
Biden departs on Tuesday evening for five days in France that will include D-Day celebrations in Normandy, where U.S. and allied forces stormed French beaches in an attack that helped defeat Nazi Germany in World War II, as well as a high-profile speech and a formal state visit with President Emmanuel Macron.
“That war (WWII) showed the world the value of strong alliances and partnerships, which is a lesson that continues to resonate today in Europe and well beyond,” White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.
Kirby said the potential use of some $300 billion in frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine would be discussed by Biden and Macron during the visit.
Biden, a Democrat, is running for re-election in November against Trump, a Republican, and has made preserving and strengthening U.S. democracy a key part of his campaign in the aftermath of Trump’s chaotic four years in office.
Trump refused to accept the results of the 2020 election, which sparked a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on January 6, 2021; he has vowed to go after political opponents, deport immigrants and punish whistleblowers in a second term.
Trump has threatened to abandon NATO allies if they do not bolster their defense spending and some fear he would pull the United States out of the alliance altogether if he were elected president again.
Biden’s message on democracy is complicated by his staunch backing of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, after Hamas attacked Israel in October last year, killing over one thousand.
The International Criminal Court has charged Netanyahu with war crimes and some international allies and left-leaning voters in the United States want Biden to stop the flow of U.S. military aid to Israel. The issue could hurt Biden in key states, including Michigan, in the November election.
The D-Day commemorations are set against a backdrop of a modern conflict in Europe, Russia’s more than 2-year war with Ukraine.
At a political fundraiser before his trip, Biden called the D-Day invasion “one of the most important moments in the history of defense of freedom and democracy in the history of the world” and said the sacrifices from that day must not be given up.
“Democracy is literally on the ballot this year. The future of democracy and freedom is at stake. We have brave soldiers who gave their lives on the beaches of Normandy who did their part,” he told donors in Connecticut on Monday.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Katharine Jackson and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons and Stephen Coates)
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