Vice President Joe Biden is currently touring Europe to sound the alarm about the perils of authoritarianism and democracy. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has returned home, where he is reportedly pursuing a favor from Vladimir Putin, contemplating retaliation, and criticizing US elections.
According to the ex-president, who is arguing for the candidacy of his opponent in 2024, the rule of law is facing unprecedented challenges from both internal and external hostile elements.
However, given Trump’s power, it is possible that many Americans may not pay attention to the highlight of Biden’s trip, which is an homage to one of Ronald Reagan’s best speeches on Friday in Normandy. In every public appearance and speech, the former president demonstrates that the allure of extremism, the vilification of foreigners, and the use of demagoguery are just as powerful today as they were before WWII.
Commemorations of the D-Day invasion, which liberated Europe 80 years ago, have become a rallying cry for Western leaders who have warned that political extremism’s shadowy underbelly is stirring. Additionally, during their gatherings and speeches, they have compared Putin’s savage attack on Ukraine to Hitler’s blitzkrieg.
It is not unprecedented for a president of the United States to visit Europe in order to highlight the common history of triumphing against despotism. In contrast to the previous president, who sought to undermine democracy in order to remain in power, no subsequent leader has taken this step. The trip has taken on a foreboding tone due to the uncertainty surrounding Biden’s reelection and the fear of a repeat of the anarchy that Trump caused among his European friends.
By appropriating Reagan’s heritage, that of one of the finest Republican presidents, Biden will make his point clear on Friday, implying that his opponent is incompatible with US and GOP principles. Perched on the Pointe du Hoc, a bluff that had been assaulted by US Army Rangers on June 6, 1944, the 40th president criticized US isolationism in 1984. Another extremism he brought up was Kremlin-style communism, and he used the war against Nazism to rally the West to fight it again during the Cold War, which they eventually won. Biden would suggest that Trump is invoking the same forces that sparked world war with his “America First” foreign policy, assaults on the integrity of the free and fair 2020 election, and use of strong anti-immigrant rhetoric reminiscent of the Nazis.
Is the Gipper able to claim victory for Biden?
As the last remaining member of the greatest generation clings to power, Joe Biden—who was born during WWII and will likely be the final president of the United States—is urging his fellow citizens to recommit themselves to democratic principles in the same way. On Thursday, while standing among the graves of almost nine thousand Americans, Biden spoke: “In memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here, let us be worthy of their sacrifice.” Let us live in a generation that meets the moment when it comes. That’s what history will say about us in 10, 20, 30, 50, or 80 years from now. We remained resolute. Our bonds were strengthened. We also rescued democracy during our era.
Since Reagan, forty years ago, moved many to tears by addressing soldiers and proclaiming, “These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc,” the political landscape has changed in such a way that the president is compelled to make such a case. The men who climbed the cliffs are these. These heroes were instrumental in the liberation of an entire continent. The heroes who played a part in a war’s victory are these.
The Republican Party was a democratic, internationalist group in those days. It spoke proudly of Reagan’s Cold War victory until Trump threw in his populism and isolationism, which makes him look good to Putin but bad to US allies. Because of this paradigm change, Biden’s speech may have been well-staged politically but failed to inspire widespread support. Invoking the Gipper’s spirit will not be expected by the White House and the Biden campaign to break Trump’s grip on Republican base voters.
On the other hand, the president is trying to woo national security Republicans who have lost faith in the party and long for the days when conservatives believed in the power of a hardline foreign policy. In particular, he hopes to win over some of the thousands of Republicans who supported former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley in the GOP primary even after she withdrew her candidacy. In her time as Trump’s UN ambassador, the former official may have supported her boss and cast Biden as a weakling abroad. Contrary to Trump’s strongman appeasement, her views on globalism and despotism are much more in line with those of the present president.
Resuming his campaign, Trump
In the wake of his criminal conviction in a hush money trial in New York last week, Biden’s predecessor is back on the campaign trail, and his trip to Europe has happened at the same time. This is the exact moment when Trump decided to give Putin, the alleged war criminal before whom he bowed as president, his latest opening. An American journalist was reportedly able to be freed by the presumed GOP nominee.
During a video that was shared on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump stated that the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by Russia will be lifted soon after the election. Rest assured, he will be home and secure before I take office. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will do it for me, and I seriously doubt he will do it for anybody else.
Attempts by Trump to show his special influence with Putin are nothing new. Remember that he previously told a news conference in Helsinki that, when asked about possible Kremlin election influence, he trusted the Russian leader standing by his side more than the US intelligence services he oversaw.
After months of discreet US government efforts to release the journalist and another American, former Marine Paul Whelan, who is imprisoned, Trump’s politicization of the Gershkovich case is noteworthy. This could lead the Russians to try to influence the talks in the hopes that Trump would offer them a better deal or that Biden’s government will be willing to pay more to save face before the election. That Trump would be indebted to Moscow would be a coup for him if the Kremlin did release the journalist to him.
Trump’s approach to Putin coincides with Putin’s isolation from the global community due to the savage attacks on Ukrainian civilians and the fact that Putin poses the biggest danger to the stability of Europe since the war that Biden traveled across the Atlantic to remember. One of the most unscrupulous modern campaign gambits is using the misfortune of an American in the brutal Russian jail system to make political points. On Thursday, Russia dismissed Trump’s comments, claiming that the release of Gershkovich would be contingent upon reciprocation.
Despite the Soviet Union’s pivotal role in the defeat of Nazism, the Russian leader was not invited to the D-Day ceremonies, and the reigning president went to great lengths to criticize him when Trump made good with him. “He’s not a decent man — he’s a dictator, and he’s struggling to hold his country together while still keeping this assault going,” Biden told ABC News in an interview. Instead, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was present.
At the same time, Thursday’s Trump campaign event—his first since becoming a felon—illustrated just how close the race may be. He delivered a demagogic plea that resonates with Republican base voters to a self-selecting audience at a Turning Point Action Town Hall. He continued to spread false information regarding election fraud in the previous one, claiming he would secure a mandate in November that was “too big to rig.” After being convicted by a jury of his contemporaries, he made the unfounded claim that the decision was “rigged” and launched an assault on the judicial system.
Even while much of his anti-immigration rhetoric in Arizona was exaggerated and unfounded, it might serve as a strong contrast to Biden’s efforts this week to downplay his involvement in the matter by drastically reducing the number of asylum petitions. The ex-president has been adamant in his refusal to commit to accepting the outcome of the November election. In addition, he has threatened to launch new attacks on the rule of law by suggesting multiple times this week that he will use presidential power to punish his political opponents.
During an interview with “Dr. Phil Primetime” that aired Thursday, Trump stated, “Well revenge does take time, I will say that, and sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil, I have to be honest.” “Well, occasionally it can.”
Despite the welcoming audience, the former president found it remarkable that many of the questions addressed the high cost of living, the difficulty Arizonans have in purchasing food, and the fear that they are in danger due to the unchecked influx of illegal immigrants at the border.
In a word, this might be the deciding factor in the election: Trump will use immigration and the economy to challenge Biden’s claims that he is unsuitable to serve as president due to his anti-democratic and dictatorial biases.
