(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden called on Americans to defend freedom and democracy, drawing an implicit contrast with Republican Donald Trump by invoking the heroism of US Army Rangers who scaled the cliffs of Pointe Du Hoc on D-Day to take out a Nazi position.

Then-President Ronald Reagan delivered one of his most famous speeches at the same spot four decades ago, exhorting Americans not to give into isolationism and to stand up to the Soviet Union. By choosing the site, Biden sought to align himself with one former Republican president to take on another who has embraced strongmen and championed an “America First” foreign policy.

“Does anyone believe these Rangers want America to go alone today?” Biden said Friday during an 11-minute speech. “They fought to vanquish the hateful ideologies of the ‘30s and ‘40s. Does anyone doubt they would move heaven and earth to vanquish hateful ideologies of today?”

Biden’s speech did not call out Trump by name, but parts of it were aimed at an American audience months before the November election. Facing headwinds tied to the economy, immigration and foreign wars, Biden has struggled to gain traction against Trump ahead of their rematch. 

To reverse the momentum, the president has put the issue of democracy at the center of his pitch to voters to draw a contrast with Trump, whom he has lambasted for trying to overturn his loss in 2020 and threatening to pull America away from its commitments overseas. 

“They’re asking us to do our job, to protect freedom in our time, to defend democracy, to stand up to aggression abroad and at home, to be part of something bigger than ourselves,” Biden said. 

The Pointe Du Hoc speech came one day after Biden marked the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings at a pair of solemn ceremonies in Normandy attended by world leaders and veterans of World War II. 

Speaking Thursday at the American Cemetery above Omaha Beach, Biden hailed the value of US alliances to defend democracy and freedom worldwide, tying the Allied fight against Nazi Germany to the present-day effort by America and its partners to help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion. 

But Biden has at times struggled to get his pitch to stick. The prospect of Trump’s return to the White House has spooked European allies, who are worried he’ll break the US commitment to NATO and take a more hostile approach to the European Union. 

The president’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas has also come under fire from members of his own party at home as well as key US partners abroad. The post-World War II liberal order Biden has championed has also been challenged by China’s global clout.

“The reality is that 80 years later, we live in a dangerous world in which democracies are under attack again,” said Leon Panetta, a former Defense secretary, CIA director and White House chief of staff under Democratic presidents.

--With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron.

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