President Joe Biden delivered a 17-minute farewell speech from the Oval Office on Wednesday, five days before handing power back to President-elect Donald Trump, warning that an "oligarchy is taking shape in America."
The speech did not refer to Trump by name, as the thrust of the speech was on the legislative and regulatory achievements of the Biden White House. Even without mentioning Trump by name, President Biden's words were clearly a parting shot at the incoming president and his administration.
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"I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And this is a dangerous — and that’s the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultrawealthy people, and the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked," he said. "Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. We see the consequences all across America. And we’ve seen it before."
Biden shows concern over Trump's ties to leaders of social media platforms
President Biden also seemingly took issue with wealthy leaders of social media platforms and news outlets that have backed Trump. X founder Elon Musk will co-lead a Trump administration task force called the Department of Government Efficiency. Meanwhile, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg will host an inaugural ball for Trump on Monday, the New York Times reported.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who also now publishes the Washington Post, will reportedly attend Monday's inaugural.
According to the Forbes list of wealthiest billionaires, Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos rank among the top three Americans. The three men are also among the four wealthiest people in the world.
"Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power," Biden said. "The free press is crumbling. Evidently, oligarchies and editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit. We must hold the social platforms accountable to protect our children, our families , and our very democracy from the abuse of power."
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Paul Krugman, who won a Nobel Prize for economics in 2008, has studied oligarchies and warned of the confluence of power between Trump and powerful billionaires.
"No one should be surprised that he’s putting plutocrats in, but the question is, Are they plutocrats who have enough independence of mind and enough security to stand up and tell him when he’s wrong? So far, I see no sign of that. And the only ... Not in the cabinet but Elon Musk, maybe. But Musk is in a competition as to who can sound crazier there, so I don’t know that that’s going to help any," Krugman told The Daily Blast podcast.
Trump has defended relying on Musk during the transition.
“I think that Elon puts the country long before his company,” Trump told Time. “He considers this to be his most important project, and he wanted to do it. And, you know, I think, I think he's one of the very few people that would have the credibility to do it, but he puts the country before, and I've seen it, before he puts his company.”
