President Biden was criticized by conservatives Friday over a speech at France’s Pointe du Hoc marking the anniversary of D-Day that they said closely resembled a speech former President Reagan delivered there 40 years ago.
“Unreal,” Young Americans for Liberty posted on X on Friday. “It appears that Biden’s D-Day speech is just a paraphrase of Reagan’s D-Day speech.”
“Joe Biden essentially plagiarized Ronald Reagan’s famous 1984 speech at Pointe du Hoc today in Normandy,” OutKick Founder Clay Travis posted on X. “Watch these clips side by side. Wow.”
“Biden camp tries to make Biden sound like Reagan,” former Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker posted on X. “But he wasn’t a great communicator just because of the words he said. He was a great communicator because he believed what he said and he made us believe it too. Joe Biden will never be as great a leader as Ronald Reagan!”
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President Biden delivers a speech on the legacy of Pointe du Hoc and democracy around the world Friday, June 7, as he stands next to the Pointe du Hoc monument in Normandy, France. (AP/Evan Vucci)
Walker went on to say in another post, “Biden had to drop out of the presidential race 37 years ago for this kind of plagiarism. He should drop out again.”
“Why would he do this?” former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen posted on X. “Why invite a direct comparison with Reagan with whom no president could ever compete in telling this story, much less one as inarticulate as Biden?”
“Joe Biden: Once a plagiarist, always a plagiarist,” conservative communicator Steve Guest posted on X.
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President Biden walks with Superintendent of the Normandy American Cemetery Scott Desjardins June 7, 2024, as he arrives to deliver a speech at Pointe du Hoc, where U.S. Army Rangers scaled cliffs over 100 feet high on D-Day to destroy a heavily fortified German position. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Both speeches similarly described the events of the D-Day invasion, and videos circulating on social media showed clips of the two speeches side by side.
“At last the hour had come. Dawn. Sixth of June, 1944,” Biden began, similar to Reagan’s speech, in which he said, “At dawn on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944.”
Biden said, “Two hundred and twenty-five American Rangers arrived by ship, jumped into the waves and stormed the beach,” compared to Reagan who said, “Two hundred and twenty-five Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs.”
“They launched their ladders, their ropes and grappling hooks, and they began to climb,” Biden said, compared to Reagan who said, “They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up.”
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President Biden, first lady Jill Biden, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron attend a U.S. ceremony June 6, 2024, marking the 80th anniversary of the World War II D-Day Allied landings in Normandy at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, which overlooks Omaha Beach in northwestern France. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
“When the Nazis cut their ladders, the Rangers used the ropes, and the Nazis cut the ropes,” Biden said. “The Rangers used their hands.”
Reagan’s speech said, “When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again.”
Biden continued, “And inch by inch, foot by foot, yard by yard, the Rangers clawed, literally clawed their way up this mighty precipice until at last they reached the top.”
Reagan said, “Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top.”
“They breached Hitler’s Atlantic Wall, and they turned, in that one effort, the tide of the war that began to save the world,” Biden said.
“And in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe,” Reagan said.
Days before Biden’s speech, Politico Playbook reported, “Biden Seeks His Gipper Moment. [Aides] have studied the Reagan trip closely and are looking to similarly capture the attention of a distracted, disillusioned public and remind them of how much is still at stake.”
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President Reagan speaks at a news conference (Screenshot/Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute)
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response.
Travis later defended his post against an article from the left-leaning outlet Mediaite that argued Biden was not plagiarizing or copying Reagan in the speech but rather detailing what happened during the invasion.
In his speech, Biden repeatedly referenced an “instinct” to “walk away” from democracy while discussing the heroics of the Army Rangers who scaled Pointe du Hoc more than 80 years ago on D-Day.
“We talk about democracy, American democracy. We often talk about the ideals of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. What we don’t talk about is how hard it is, how many ways we’re asked to walk away, how many instincts there are to walk away,” Biden said. “The most natural instinct is to walk away.”