WASHINGTON--U.S. President Joe Biden warned on Wednesday in his farewell address that an American oligarchy is taking shape in the United States among a few wealthy people who have amassed a "dangerous concentration of power."
Biden warned of a "tech industrial complex" in the United States in words that echoed President Dwight Eisenhower's farewell address in 1961. Eisenhower, closing out eight years as president, had warned of the dangers of a "military-industrial complex" gaining power in the United States. "Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead," Biden said from the Oval Office.
He did not mention names, but Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has amassed not just vast wealth but has become a powerful adviser to Donald Trump, the Republican who will take over as president from Biden on Monday. Biden harked back to Eisenhower's speech in his 15-minute message. "Six decades later, I'm equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex. It could pose real dangers for our country as well. Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power," he said.
"The free press is crumbling. Pillars are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact checking," Biden said. Biden's comments came after social media company Meta Platforms recently scrapped its U.S. fact-checking programme and reduced curbs on discussions around contentious topics such as immigration and gender identity, bowing to criticism from conservatives like Trump. X, formerly called Twitter, had previously restricted content moderation on its platform after being purchased by Musk. The foreboding speech comes as Biden's Democratic Party has little leverage in national politics and Trump has nominated a slate of cabinet members who have pledged to upend traditional American alliances and governing norms. Biden ran for president in 2020 as a transition figure, but opted at the unprecedented age of 80 to run for reelection, convinced he was the only Democrat who could beat Trump.
Forced out of the race in July after a disastrous debate against Trump, Biden has been blamed by some Democrats for their November wipeout, after Vice President Kamala Harris' whirlwind campaign lost every battleground state. Biden and his allies oversaw the recovery from COVID-19, funded an infrastructure revival, sparked new semiconductor chips manufacturing, and tackled climate change as they tried to rebalance inequality and invest in the future.
He leaves an outperforming U.S. economy and optimistic businesses. But Biden was unable to heal divisions in the country the way he had hoped, or stop democratic backsliding around the world. His crowning political achievement - defeating Trump in 2020 - proved temporary. Now the Republican president-elect has vowed to undo much of what the Democratic administration accomplished.
