Biden departs with a dark warning to America: the oligarchs are coming | Joe Biden

There was a sting in the tail. Joe Biden’s farewell speech had not seemed like a must-watch for most politics-weary Americans. Those dutifully tuning in might have expected the president to deliver a yawn-inducing first draft of his White House memoir.

But after more than half a century in elected office, the 82-year-old great-grandfather got one last surprise. The primetime speech did not mention Donald Trump by name. Instead, it will be remembered for its dark, ominous warning of something broader and deeper, of which Trump is a symptom.

“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 chance for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said.

The word “oligarchy” comes from the Greek words meaning rule (ark) of the few (oligos). Some have argued that the dominant political divide in America is no longer between left and right, but between democracy and oligarchy as power becomes concentrated in the hands of a few. The richest 1% of Americans now have more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.

The trend didn’t start with Trump, but he is set to accelerate it. The self-proclaimed working-class hero has chosen the richest cabinet in history, including 13 billionaires, surrounding himself with the elite he claims to oppose. Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has become a key adviser. Tech titans Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg – together worth a trillion dollars – will sit at his inauguration on Monday.

Invoking former President Dwight Eisenhower’s Farewell speech in January 1961 warning against the rise of a military-industrial complex, Biden said: “Six decades later, I am equally concerned about the potential rise of a technological industrial complex. It can also pose real dangers to our country. Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power.”

Acknowledging the news and firings at venerable institutions like the Washington Post, Biden pointedly added: “The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up fact-checking. The truth is being suffocated by lies, told for power and for profit. We must keep the social platforms responsible for protecting our children, our families and our very democracy from abuse of power.”

Zuckerberg’s recent decision to abandon fact-checkers at Facebook and Musk’s weaponization of X in favor of far-right movements, including Maga, were surely uppermost in Biden’s mind. Trust in the old media is crumbling as people turn to a fragmented new ecosystem. It has all happened with disorienting speed.

Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and blue tie, at times pointing a finger or raising a fist, Biden spoke for the last time from the Oval Office. To his left, off camera, sat Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden, his son Hunter Biden and Hunter’s wife Melissa Cohen Biden. Behind the president were two flags, gold curtains and some framed family photos, including his late son Beau. In less than a week, Biden will be gone and the photos swept away.

He leaves office with one of the strongest economies and lowest approval ratings of any president. His first two years were measured in trillions of dollars: pandemic aid that temporarily cut child poverty in half, a bipartisan infrastructure package, legislation to build factories and make computer chips, and the most significant climate investment in history.

But somehow the president failed to communicate these results to voters or get credit from them. He was too shy to put his name on checks, as Trump had done. The long list of legislative victories was swamped by inflation in the minds of millions of voters.

As expected, he used some of his remarks Wednesday to set the record straight and make his case to future historians. “It will take time to feel the impact of everything we have done together, but the seeds have been planted and they will grow and they will flourish for decades to come.” There was an echo of a text in the musical Hamilton: “Legacy. What is an inheritance? It is planting seeds in a garden you will never see.”

But Biden’s legacy will also be a man who saved the nation from Trump only to hang on too long and open the door to Trump’s return. His politics were sound and often celebrated by the left, but his politics were off. Wisely on Wednesday, he did not air grievances or betray bitterness over the Democratic Party’s collective decision to force him not to seek re-election. He has recently claimed that he could have beaten Trump. In his dreams.

Instead, he brought down the curtain on a career that began with his 1972 election to the US Senate by looking to the future rather than dwelling on the past. Biden’s farewell speech was above all a wake-up call: like the “robber barons” of the Gilded Age, the oligarchy is making a comeback, and even Trump will be a footnote.