Biden visits U.S. WWI cemetery in France that Trump skipped

June 10 (UPI) -- U.S. President Joe Biden completed his trip to France by paying his respects at an American cemetery that Donald Trump passed over during his tenure in the White House.

Biden arrived in Paris on Wednesday to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the World War II D-Day landings in Normandy. During the five-day trip, he also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and was honored Saturday with a state visit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron of France.

Prior to departing for the United States on Sunday, the president and first lady Jill Biden visited the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in northern France where more than 2,200 Americans who died in the area fighting in World War I are buried.

Biden suggested that it would be wrong for them to visit Normandy beach and show reverence for Americans who died there and not visit Aisne-Marne American Cemetery.

"Jill and I wanted to come and pay our respects," he said. "And it matters a lot."

He said the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Normandy beach tell the same American story.

"Think about it," he said. "America showed up. America showed up to stop the Germans. America showed up to make sure that they did not prevail. And America shows up when we need it, just like our allies show up for us."

More than 100 years ago, Americans fought for our freedom in World War I. We must honor their service and sacrifice by defending our democracy, today and every day. pic.twitter.com/stfPqq2q3b — President Biden (@POTUS) June 10, 2024

Biden, who is seeking re-election, has been campaigning on the notion that democracy is at risk at home and abroad and used the trip to highlight what's at stake in November's election.

The president has boasted that he reforged U.S. relations that deteriorated under Trump and his isolationist policies, and takes credit for rallying the democratic world to support Ukraine in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war.

He has tried to emphasize that the United States' standing with allies would be under threat if Trump were re-elected as the former New York real estate mogul has openly and repeatedly questioned the United States' involvement in the European conflict and the importance of its relationships and pacts, including in the defensive NATO alliance.

Biden capped off the trip with visiting Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, where Trump was scheduled to visit as the American president during a trip to France in 2018, but didn't claiming bad weather.

It was later reported by The Atlantic that Trump had canceled the visit over not wanting his hair to by ruined by the rain.

He reportedly told staffers: "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers."

The comment has been a point of anger for Biden, whose eldest son, Beau Biden , served in the Iraq War and died at the age of 46 from brain cancer, which the president blames on burn pits used in the war.

Biden referenced Trump's reported comments in April during a campaign rally in Pittsburg, chocking up as he spoke. He most recently mentioned it on June 3, at a Greenwich, Conn., campaign fundraiser.

He has repeatedly said the comment makes him unfit to lead the country.

"This guy does not deserve to be president, whether or not I was running," Biden said earlier this month.

Biden would not respond to reporters' questions Sunday about what message he was hoping to send to voters with the visit. Responding to a similar question concerning what he hoped Americans took from his trip, Biden said that it was the importance of allies.

"The knowledge that the best way to avoid these kinds of battles in the future is to stay strong with our allies. Do not break. Do not break," he said.

"Even though I've been here before, it surprised me how much it awakened my sense of why it's so valuable to have these alliances, why it's so critical. That's the way you stop wars, not start wars."