Outgoing President Joe Biden warned of the dangers of an oligarchy rising to power as he delivered his farewell address and ended a decades-long career in politics.
“There is an oligarchy taking shape in America today of extraordinary wealth, power and influence that truly threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom,” he said Wednesday.
Biden, 82, took aim at a super-wealthy “tech-industrial complex” that he says could exercise unchecked power over Americans.
He also used his final televised speech from the White House to issue warnings about climate change and social media misinformation.
Speaking from the Oval Office, where his family had gathered to watch, he touted the record of his one-term administration, citing job creation, infrastructure spending, health care, getting the country out of the pandemic and making the US a safer country .
However, he added that “it will take time to feel the full impact of everything we have done together, but the seeds have been planted and they will grow and blossom for decades to come.”
Biden wished the incoming administration of Donald Trump well, but then issued a series of stark warnings, with the president saying “so much is at stake right now.”
On climate change, he said “powerful powers want to use their unchecked influence to undo the steps we've taken to address the climate crisis to serve their own interests for power and profit.”
Regarding misinformation, Biden warned that “Americans are buried under an avalanche of disinformation and disinformation, which allows abuse of power.”
He also hit out at social media companies like Meta, which recently announced it would get rid of independent fact-checkers. “Social media abandons fact-checking. “Truth is stifled by lies told for power and profit,” Biden said.
And his attack on the ultra-wealthy “tech-industrial complex” was a veiled reference to Silicon Valley executives like Elon Musk, the world's richest man, who is close to Trump and provided massive financial support to his campaign.
His language echoed that of President Dwight Eisenhower, who famously warned of a “military-industrial complex” in his 1961 farewell address.
Biden appeared to be referring to Musk when he warned of a “dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few super-rich people.”
The term oligarchy refers to a government that is run by a handful of people, often for their own profit.
The president said there could be “dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.”
Other tech bosses such as Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg have also made efforts to improve their relationship with Trump ahead of his return to the White House.
Closing his departure speech, a longstanding presidential tradition, Biden urged Americans to “stand guard” for their country: “May you all be keepers of the flame.”
His farewell address came the same day he announced a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which he mentioned in his opening remarks.
Biden said the negotiations were some of the toughest of his career and credited himself with helping push the deal through.
The agreement will see a cease-fire take effect on January 19, the day before Trump takes office. The president-elect also took credit for the deal, saying it was only possible because he won the November election.
