Biden urges Americans to be ‘keepers’ of D-Day mission, digs at Trump and Putin during speech at Pointe du Hoc
President Biden urged Americans Friday to honor those who stormed the beaches of Normandy 80 years before by working “to ensure that our democracy endures and the soul of our nation endures.”
The 81-year-old’s remarks were in part a eulogy of the 225 Army Rangers who stormed the Pointe du Hoc promontory on June 6, 1944, capturing a crucial German position during Operation Overlord — and in part an attempt to claim their legacy against Biden’s great rival Donald Trump, though the incumbent did not mention the presumptive GOP nominee by name.
“We’re the fortunate heirs of the legacy of these heroes, those who scaled the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc,” Biden said. “But we will just also be the keepers of their mission.”
“To come here simply to remember the ghosts of Pointe du Hoc isn’t enough,” he went on. “We have need to hear them. We have to listen to them…. We need to make the solemn vow to never let them down.”
Biden noted that he was “the first president to come to Pointe du Hoc when none of those 225 brave men who scaled this cliff on D-Day are still alive — none.
“But I’m here to tell you, with them gone, the wind we hear coming off this ocean will not fade, it will grow louder,” he said.
“As we gather here today, it’s not just to honor those who showed such remarkable bravery on that day, June 6, 1944. It’s to listen to the echoes of their voices, to hear them, because they are summoning us, and they’re summoning us now.
“They ask us, what will we do? They’re not asking us to scale these cliffs, but they’re asking us to stay true to what America stands for. They’re not asking us to give or risk our lives, but they are asking us to care for others in our country more than ourselves.
“They’re not asking us to do their job, they’re asking us to do our job, to protect freedom in our time, defend democracy, to stand up aggression abroad and at home, to be part of something bigger than ourselves.”
Biden peppered his speech with glancing blows at Trump, referencing his refusal to accept his loss in the 2020 election, culminating in the Capitol riot that disrupted certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory on Jan. 6, 2021.
Biden also took jabs at Trump’s “America First” foreign policy mantra and even referenced disputed quotes attributed to the 45th president disparaging US war dead buried in France. Those incendiary alleged comments were first reported by The Atlantic in a story whose central premise later was debunked.
“We talk about democracy, American democracy. We often talk about the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” Biden said. “What we don’t talk about is how hard it is — how many ways we’re asked to walk away, how many instincts are to walk away. The most natural instinct is to walk away, to be selfish, to force our will upon others, to seize power and never give up.
“American democracy asks the hardest of things: to believe that we’re part of something bigger than ourselves. So democracy begins with each of us.”
The US troops of D-Day “stood against Hitler’s aggression,” Biden stated.
“Does anyone doubt that they would want America to stand up against Putin’s aggression here in Europe today? They stormed the beaches alongside their allies. Does anyone believe these Rangers want America to go it alone today?” Biden continued.
“They fought to vanquish a hateful ideology in the ’30s and ’40s. Does anyone doubt they wouldn’t move heaven and earth to vanquish hateful ideologies of today? These Rangers put mission and country above themselves … These Rangers remembered with reverence those who gave their lives in battle. Could they or anyone ever imagine that America wouldn’t do the same?”
Biden has previously used historic imagery for electoral purposes — including using Philadelphia’s Independence Hall to rail against Republicans ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
