WATCH: Journalists Urge White House to Tell ‘Traumatized’ European Leaders Trump Was ‘Anomaly’

Members of the White House press corps pressed National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Monday on whether President Joe Biden would tell foreign leaders that former President Donald Trump’s policies were an “anomaly.”

The questions came during a press briefing ahead of President Biden’s visit Wednesday to Europe, his first overseas trip as president.

Journalists Yamiche Alcindor of PBS and Brian Karem of Playboy made it clear in the White House briefing room that they wanted Biden to tell American allies to disregard four years of Trump, and to regard Biden as a return to “normal.”

The following exchange occurred between Alcindor and Sullivan (above and via White House transcript):

Yamiche.

Q Thank you so much. My question is: Can you talk a bit about how President Biden plans to convince, especially our European allies, that President — former President Trump was an anomaly in some ways — all the things that he did to, in some ways, traumatize those leaders; calling into question the need for NATO. What’s the plan there? And is he concerned that those scars are going to be deeper than his ability to address them in this one trip?

MR. SULLIVAN: I think our view going into this trip is that actions speak louder than words, and that showing that the United States is capable of turning the corner on the pandemic; showing that the United States is capable of making the dramatic investments that will pull us up and out of this economic recovery and help power global growth; showing the world that we are ultimately capable of making the investments in R&D and infrastructure, innovation, and workforce — ultimately, setting that foundation for this country will be the most effective way to show the rest of the world that the United States has the power and purpose to be able to deliver as the world’s leading democracy.

So that’s what he’s going to try to demonstrate. And he, as I said at the outset, feels he goes into this from a position of strength because of the record he’s built up over the course of the first four months.

Alcindor did not explain how foreign leaders might have been “traumatized,” though Trump did push NATO members to meet their defense spending commitments, something previous administrations had wanted to do but failed to achieve.

Later, Karem followed up:

C-SPAN

Q Two quick questions. One, a follow-up on Yamiche. The biggest concern of some of our allies has been, over the last four years and even before, just the rapid swaying back and forth of our foreign policy. Now, you can’t assure anyone what’s going to happen after you leave, but what assurances and what will you tell our allies that, despite what we’ve seen in the past, that we have returned to normal?

MR. SULLIVAN: I think the best way to answer that question — and this builds on what I said to Yamiche — is what President Biden can do is show the rest of the world what America is capable of. If we can lead the world in ending the COVID-19 pandemic more rapidly; if the growth we are powering for the American people here at home helps power a global economic recovery; if we can help rally, as the President did with his Climate Leaders Summit, action on climate — on the climate crisis so that we actually beat this thing, ultimately, that is going to be the best way for people to say, “Hang on, the United States can do this. They can deliver and we will stand up and stand behind them.” And that is the approach that he has taken from the first day he’s been in office. That’s the message he’s going to carry into these meetings.

And what I believe we will deliver just out of the G7 alone, in addition to the other meetings he’s going to have on this trip, will show that the United States retains profound capacity to help rally the world’s democracies to solve big problems.

Karem did not seem to consider that Trump’s policies might have been a necessary correction from a failing “normal” consensus, or that Trump’s policies might have been a return to “normal” American engagement after President Barack Obama’s left-wing policies, which included appeasing enemies like Iran at the expense of traditional allies like Israel.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new e-book, The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it). His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.