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A rose lies near the grave marker of an American soldier at the Colleville-sur-Mer war cemetery near Omaha Beach in Normandy, northern France.
US President Joe Biden is leaving the campaign trail this week for a state visit to France, where he will deliver two speeches on the beaches of Normandy to mark the 80th anniversary of the Allied invasion that liberated Western Europe. Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron will use the somber occasion to discuss “the need for unwavering, long-term support for Ukraine,” the Elysée said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to attend commemorations in France, as are dozens more heads of state, in what may be the last major anniversary with living veterans.
The historical juxtaposition makes for a powerful metaphor. The Allied troops who gave their lives on the beachheads and in the tangled hedgerows of Normandy restored democracy to Western Europe, and the international postwar system eventually enabled peaceful democratic transitions on the other side of the Iron Curtain. But today, Ukrainians fight on alone as Russia seeks to undermine that system and destabilize the democracies that hold it up.
But Biden can’t let his mind stray too far from the campaign trail. Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to abandon NATO allies to Russian predations, saying he would let Russia do “whatever the hell they want” to European allies that skimped on defense spending. Macron and other key allies are watching the US race with no small measure of anxiety, and we’re watching for how Biden tries to boost their confidence.