(L/R): French President’s wife Brigitte Macron, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, US First Lady Jill Biden and US President Joe Biden arrive at the International commemorative ceremony at Omaha Beach marking the 80th anniversary of the World War II D-Day Allied landings in Normandy, in Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, in northwestern France. (Image: AFP)
Republicans and critics of Joe Biden again took a swipe at the US President Joe Biden’s age and questioned if he is fit to lead the country.
US President Joe Biden’s D-Day event became campaign fodder for Donald Trump and meme material for his critics who doubt that his age will act as a barrier if he is re-elected in November.
The Trump-backed RNC Research tweeted a video where US President Joe Biden is seen awkwardly fumbling for a seat. There was no seat as Biden, US First Lady Jill Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and French First Lady Brigitte Macron were standing as a D-Day Memorial event progressed forth.
The RNC Research captioned the video: ‘Embarrassing’.
Son of Biden’s rival Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, reposted the video on social media, with this accompanying text: “Is there ever a time when Americans realise just how much of an embarrassment this is on a world stage? Does this kind of incompetence and weakness encourage our enemies to act the way they’ve been acting? Of course it does!”
Is there ever a time when Americans realize just how much of an embarrassment this is on a world stage? Does this kind of incompetence and weakness encourage our enemies to act the way they’ve been acting? Of course it does! pic.twitter.com/wxsTKWTtNM— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) June 6, 2024
US President Joe Biden’s age and his mistakes during events have become tools for the Trump campaign to attack the octogenarian leader. His detractors claim that Biden is in poor health and would make mistakes during his tenure if re-elected creating more problems for the country.
Biden has in recent months been surrounded by aides as he walks to the chopper — itself part of a White House strategy to distract from his increasingly unsteady gait amid what it believes is an unfair focus on the media on his age over that of Trump, who is just four years younger.
US President Joe Biden on Thursday warned on the 80th anniversary of D-Day that democracy around the world was at risk, as leaders marked the 1944 landings in occupied France that helped defeat Nazi Germany in World War II.
The biggest guests of honour were some 180 surviving veterans in their late 90s or over 100, some in wheelchairs and huddled in blankets as they gazed over the shores.
Biden, Britain’s King Charles III, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the tens of thousands of Allied troops who stormed the beaches of Normandy in northern France on June 6, 1944.
An honoured additional guest was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Film director Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks also attended the ceremonies, present in acknowledgement of their classic 1998 film “Saving Private Ryan”, set just after the Normandy landings.
Before the US ceremony in Colleville-sur-Mer, President Joe Biden individually met dozens of American veterans, offering a salute to some and a handshake to all.
They then each posed for a photograph with the US leader, with First Lady Jill Biden propping one or two up with a helping hand.
“You saved the world,” the 81-year-old president said to one of them, holding his arms and bending his knees to look into his eyes.
“The greatest generation ever,” he told another.
“Can I borrow some of your hair?” he joked with a third, who had thick white curls under a World War II veterans cap.
