After being scorched in the media for failing to recognize the 78th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, Joe Biden’s Twitter account finally—at 8:45 p.m. ET Monday—posted a tweet honoring the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy on June 6th, 1944. It was already June 7th in Normandy when the tardy tweet went out.
The pivotal battle marked a turning point in WWII, but came at the ultimate sacrifice of thousands of American and allied soldiers.
“Today, we mark 78 years since D-Day and honor those who answered duty’s call on the beaches of Normandy. We must never forget their service and sacrifice in defense of freedom, and we must strive every day to live up to the ideals they fought to defend,” Biden’s account tweeted Monday night.
Today, we mark 78 years since D-Day and honor those who answered duty’s call on the beaches of Normandy. We must never forget their service and sacrifice in defense of freedom, and we must strive every day to live up to the ideals they fought to defend. pic.twitter.com/2IRTQN4uEz
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 7, 2022
Typically, sitting presidents acknowledge the anniversary early in the day.
Former Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump all acknowledged the anniversary of D-Day in some capacity during their first year in office. President Ronald Reagan delivered one of his most famous addresses on the D-Day anniversary in 1984.
Instead of doing that, Biden gave himself credit for helping America achieve “the most robust economy in modern history” Monday morning on Twitter.
“At the time I took office about 16 months ago, the economy had stalled and COVID was out of control,” he tweeted at 9:03 a.m. on June 6. “Today, thanks to the economic plan and the vaccination plan that my Administration put into action, America has achieved the most robust recovery in modern history.”
At the time I took office about 16 months ago, the economy had stalled and COVID was out of control.
Today, thanks to the economic plan and the vaccination plan that my Administration put into action, America has achieved the most robust recovery in modern history.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 6, 2022
Biden’s Twitter account also posted tweets on Monday about the need to “do something” about school shootings, how he’s working to solve the baby formula crisis, the White House Intern program, and an announcement that he plans to use the Defense Production Act “to lower energy costs, strengthen the power grid, and create good-paying jobs.”
Biden was slammed on social media all day for the snub and on Fox News by late afternoon.
Special Report host Bret Baier noted that Biden had not marked the day through any official proclamation.
Reporter Jacqui Heinrich reported that Biden routinely recognizes other more trivial dates, and events, through proclamations:
“It is not like this White House doesn’t issue statements frequently. On May 31, they gave a proclamation on National Ocean Month, also a proclamation on National Home Ownership Month and a proclamation on Great Outdoors Month,” she said.
“This is something that all the previous past presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump all acknowledged in some form during their first year in office, but two years in a row, no statement from president Biden,” Heinrich added.
Baier responded, “That’s quite something.”
Biden did send Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, to Normandy, where he drew a parallel between the Normandy invasion and the war in Ukraine.
“The fight in Ukraine is about honoring these veterans of World War II,” Mark Milley said at the American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer, overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy. “It’s about maintaining the so-called global rules-based international order that was established by the dead who are buried here at this cemetery. Milley said the world is “again seeing death and destruction on the European continent.”
Biden actually did a better job this year of commemorating D-Day, than he did last year, when he forgot to mention the anniversary entirely. A Homeland Security source told Fox News the next day that service members and veterans were upset after Biden failed to acknowledge the 77th anniversary of D-Day. Then-press secretary Jen Psaki defended Biden from the White House podium, telling reporters that he keeps D-Day “close to his heart,” and “I wouldn’t be surprised if there is more we have to say on it.”