Biden Campaign Drops An Attack Ad On Trump From Normandy

President Joe Biden’s campaign launched an attack ad against former President Donald Trump from France on Friday, placing Trump’s past criticisms of members of the military against the image of the hallowed grounds of Normandy.

The minute-long video — which was shared on X after Biden concluded a speech at Pointe du Hoc — went after Trump for reportedly disparaging service members, including calling them “losers” and “suckers.”

In using the arresting site of the rows upon rows of crosses that dot the fields of Normandy American Cemetery as part of an attack ad, Biden’s team provided an early indication of the type of campaign they are eager to run against Trump.

The president’s speech Friday was a brisk 11 minutes. But its themes — mainly the fragility of democracy and the need to protect it — were meant as implicit contrasts with the former president. And the campaign itself has made little secret that it plans to use the address politically going forward.

The Trump campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.

The attack ad, citing reporting from The Atlantic, opens with a quote from Trump about his decision to cancel a 2018 visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near Paris. The Atlantic reported that Trump told his staff: “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” Biden is expected to lay a wreath there this weekend.

The video goes on to quote Trump making fun of the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who Trump said was only a “war hero because he was captured.” And throughout the video, Trump’s comments are spliced over images of wounded soldiers, military families reuniting and fallen soldiers returning home in caskets draped with the American flag.

On Friday, the Biden team leaned in to drawing a contrast between the two candidates, sharing a news clip of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer characterizing a “split screen” between Biden and Trump. Pointing to the former president saying that revenge “sometimes can be justified,” Blitzer remarked: “Trump is talking about revenge while President Biden is honoring the Greatest Generation during the 80th anniversary of Normandy.”