Breaking Up with Europe?
The D-Day words of three presidents and the potential end of an eight-decade partnership
It was just over three years ago, in February 2022, that Russian troops stormed into Ukraine hoping to subjugate the country and help satisfy Vladimir Putin’s imperial ambitions of restoring the old Russian empire. With troops massed at the border and intelligence reports indicating Russia had targeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for assassination in an effort to decapitate his government, the United States offered to help evacuate Zelensky and his family from Kyiv.
Zelensky refused, saying: “The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.” At risk to his life, Zelensky stood with his countrymen as they fought back against Russia’s unprovoked invasion of a European democracy.
Since then, Ukraine has lost 46,000 troops, tens of thousands of civilians, some of its eastern territory, and incalculable damage to its infrastructure, but with the help of weapons and intelligence provided by the West it has managed to otherwise withstand what Russia has thrown at it for three years. And Zelensky is still president.
That was then
Then, in the past few weeks, this has happened:
1. On the third year anniversary of the start of the Ukraine war, the United Nations voted on a resolution calling for an end to the battle and condemning Russia’s role in igniting the conflict. It passed 93-18. Among the countries supporting the resolution were all of America’s democratic European allies.
The United States, meanwhile, joined such countries as Russia and North Korea in voting against the resolution because it opposed naming Russia as the aggressor in the conflict. The conservative columnist Bret Stephens called it “the single most shameful vote ever cast by the United States at the United Nations.”
2. Soon thereafter was the now infamous Oval Office showdown where President Trump and Vice President Vance berated Zelensky and accused him, in front of the cameras, of being disrespectful and ungrateful.
3. Most recently came the news that the U.S. has not only halted military aide but also stopped sharing intelligence data with Ukraine, which meant the country would no longer have access to all warnings of incoming Russian missile bombardments. Trump appeared unconcerned over the fact that Russia was further pounding Ukraine in the face of America’s withdrawal of support.
“I actually think (Putin’s) doing what anybody else would do,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Friday, when asked whether he was upset that Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking advantage of the U.S. halt in aid for Ukraine.
Breaking up a partnership that was forged on D-Day
These actions together make clear where the U.S. now stands, taking the side of authoritarian governments and refusing to stand with nations who’ve been allies for more than 80 years. Western support for Ukraine was in line with NATO’s principle of standing up for a fellow democracy in the face of aggression, an ethic that was forged during World War II.
Indeed, if you try to come up with a touchstone for NATO and the Western alliance, one symbol that always comes to mind is the partnership that turned the tide of the last world war on the beaches of Normandy. The 1944 D-Day invasion was a high risk bet that required the coordination of ships, planes, ground troops, and paratroopers from more than a dozen nations. Ever since that pivotal battle, Normandy has been the site of speeches commemorating the sacrifices made by a generation of young men who fought and died alongside each other to preserve Western democracy and freedom.
Given the cracks now appearing in the U.S.-European alliance, it seems an appropriate time to look back on this partnership through the D-Day words of three U.S. presidents.
Dwight Eisenhower in 1944 and 1957
On the eve of the D-Day invasion, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, had a message for his troops, thousands of whom would not survive the next day’s fight:
“The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies … you will bring about … the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.”
Eight years later, in 1952, as Eisenhower contemplated a presidential run, this sentiment of fighting for freedom alongside America’s European allies still loomed large in his thoughts. Eisenhower was a reluctant presidential candidate but a motivating factor in his decision to run for the White House was his belief that the U.S. needed to remain engaged with the world.
His candidacy, in fact, was mounted largely to stop the GOP from giving the nomination to Ohio Sen. Robert Taft, who was running on a platform of isolationism in foreign policy. Eisenhower told Taft that he’d forego a presidential run if the Senator would support NATO and the need for collective security arrangements. Taft declined, prompting Eisenhower to enter and win the race.
As president, Eisenhower then spoke in 1957 at a NATO meeting where he warned that the work to maintain peace and freedom would be long and would require the democracies of the West to work together:
This peace we seek will not be had for nothing. Indeed, its price will be high. But it need not dismay us … The only question is, will we do so? Will we, in freedom, pay the price necessary to preserve freedom? … Among our misconceptions has been … the assumption that the triumph of freedom over despotism is inevitable …
Heroic efforts will long be needed to steer the world toward true peace … A special responsibility does, however, rest upon the Atlantic Community … The members of our Community need to feel an increasing responsibility to help other free peoples.
Ronald Reagan in 1984
One of the most celebrated speeches of Ronald Reagan’s presidency was a defense of this internationalist worldview, when in 1984 he spoke on the 40th anniversary of the D-Day invasion at Pointe du Hoc in France, where Army Rangers in 1944 scaled cliffs to take out German guns that were defending the coastline.
When … our allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy 40 years ago they came not as conquerors, but as liberators … to nurture the seeds of democracy among those who yearned to be free again … Today, in their memory, and for all who fought here, we celebrate the triumph of democracy. We reaffirm the unity of democratic peoples who fought a war and then joined with the vanquished in a firm resolve to keep the peace.
From a terrible war we learned that unity made us invincible; now, in peace, that same unity makes us secure. We sought to bring all freedom-loving nations together in a community dedicated to the defense and preservation of our sacred values. Our alliance, forged in the crucible of war, tempered and shaped by the realities of the postwar world, has succeeded.
Joe Biden in 2024
Four more decades later, in 2024, President Joe Biden spoke at the 80th anniversary of D-Day, also at Pointe du Hoc in France. Biden’s address was shadowed by another rising tide of isolationism and a debate over whether the U.S. had any interest in aiding Ukraine against Russia. So Biden devoted his speech to giving a full-throated defense of democracy and of the Western alliance.
Here we proved that the ideals of our democracy are stronger than any army or combination of armies in the entire world. We proved something else here as well: the unbreakable unity of the Allies … It was a powerful illustration of how alliances — real alliances — make us stronger — a lesson that I pray we Americans never forget … Isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago, and it is not the answer today …
Democracy is never guaranteed. Every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it … In memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here, let us be worthy of their sacrifice. Let us be the generation that when history is written about our time … it will be said: When the moment came, we met the moment. We stood strong … And we saved democracy in our time as well.
America in 2025
Today, it’s fair to ask if the words spoken by Eisenhower, Reagan, and Biden (and others) are still relevant. Or have they been eclipsed by the worldview now adopted by the governing wing of today’s Republican party?
Trump, after all, has moved the nation and the GOP in an America First direction that would be unrecognizable to most other national leaders since the 1940s. As Jacob Heilbrunn, a foreign policy analyst, suggested even before Trump’s re-election:
[Trump] is poised to adopt a radical program centered on constructive engagement with foreign strongmen and hostility toward democratic allies …
The revisionists don’t place as much value on our membership in NATO and are generally ardent proponents of a longstanding dream on the right of a Fortress America that can strike unilaterally whenever and wherever it pleases, unencumbered by nettlesome international alliances and organizations.
And even more shocking than the Trump administration’s disdain for NATO and its desire to go it alone is its seeming embrace of the autocratic government of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. As the National Review put it in a headline: “We Have Effectively Switched Sides in the Russia-Ukraine War.”
David Frum, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, wrote:
Trump and Vance have revealed to Americans and to America’s allies their alignment with Russia, and their animosity toward Ukraine … The truth is ugly, but it’s necessary to face it.
And Roger Cohen, a reporter who specializes in foreign affairs, described the new international situation this way:
For decades a core objective of the Soviet Union was to “decouple” the United States from Europe … Now, in weeks, President Trump has handed Moscow the gift that eluded it during the Cold War and since.
Europe, jilted, is in shock. The United States, a nation whose core idea is liberty and whose core calling has been the defense of democracy against tyranny, has turned on its ally and instead embraced a brutal autocrat.
Despite all this, Trump is getting little pushback from his own party over this apparent embrace of the Russian dictator. One of the few Republicans still standing up for international alliances is Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, who warned in an op-ed:
[T]he world was plunged into war, and millions of innocents died, because European powers and the United States met the rise of a militant authoritarian with appeasement or naïve neglect in the first place …
It should not take another catastrophic attack like Pearl Harbor to wake today’s isolationists from the delusion that regional conflicts have no consequences for the world’s most powerful and prosperous nation. With global power comes global interests and global responsibilities.
In the same piece, McConnell also referred to the importance of D-Day in shaping the Western alliance:
Eighty years ago, America and our allies fought because we had to. The forces assembled on the English Channel on June 6, 1944, represented the fruits of many months of feverish planning. And once victory was secure, the United States led the formation of the alliances that have underpinned Western peace and security ever since.
But the alliance that was shaped by a brutal war nearly a century ago now appears on the edge of breaking apart. America under Trump is threatening to withdraw from one of history’s most successful geopolitical partnerships.
And Europe is stunned. The video below, of a French politician speaking of how the continent can no longer trust American leadership, went viral in Europe recently. It speaks to how the U.S. is losing its standing and its moral leadership around the world. French Senator Claude Malhuret said, in part:
“Trump’s message is that there is no sense in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose higher tariffs on you than on his enemies, and will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you … This is not an illiberal drift, it is the beginning of the confiscation of democracy.”
There is more, if you care to take a look.
Somewhere, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan are shedding a tear.
Photos: Cover image via Shutterstock, and Dwight Eisenhower on D-Day via Wikimedia Commons.
Good job putting the pieces together, as always. It’s just baffling how we allowed ourselves to get here. Then I see things like today’s Senate vote on the budget… Too often the collective “we” have decided to choose what appears to be the easier of two hard choices. No matter how evil that choice may be and what choices THAT leads to. Slopes are slippery, aren’t they?