‘An Oligarchy Is Taking Shape,’ Biden Warns in His Farewell Address

As President Biden prepares to leave Washington for the final time in just four days, he is warning of a concentration of power in Silicon Valley and among America’s largest social media platforms, and of the importance of the artificial intelligence race with Communist China. Mr. Biden, who campaigned in 2020 on returning government to traditional norms after the disruptive tenure of President Trump, and instead paved the way for Trump’s return, is leaving office with a dismal approval rating. But Wednesday evening, in his farewell address from the Oval Office, the president took the opportunity to issue a warning about the enormous power of the American technology industry.“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,” Mr. Biden said. “In his farewell address, President Eisenhower spoke of the dangers of the military industrial complex. He warned us then about ‘the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power.’ Six decades later, I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that can pose dangers for our country as well,” he said. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Vice President Harris and First Lady Jill Biden listen to President Biden (off frame) as he delivers his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House on January 15, 2025 at Washington, DC. Mandel Ngan – Pool/Getty ImagesThe president’s comments were a thinly veiled shot at Elon Musk, the technology entrepreneur and world’s richest man who has forged a close partnership with Trump. Mr. Musk, who gave $250 million to the Trump campaign, is enjoying enormous influence both with the president-elect and via the X social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which he owns.Other tech leaders have moved to align themselves with Trump and the MAGA movement. Facebook has drastically scaled back human content moderation, which had been criticized by the right as anti-conservative censorship, and has ended its “diversity, equity and inclusion” policies and removed tampons from the men’s bathrooms at its facilities. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg recently denounced Mr. Biden on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos blocked the Washington Post, which he owns, from publishing an endorsement it had prepared of Vice President Harris. Messrs. Bezos and Zuckerberg will attend the inauguration, along with Mr. Musk, the CEO of Microsoft, and other technology giants.In his address, Mr. Biden issued an even starker warning about the A.I. arms race with other nations, and the threat the technology could pose if it is not developed responsibly. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Vice-President Harris sit as President Biden arrives to deliver his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House on January 15, 2025 at Washington, DC. Mandel Ngan – Pool/Getty Images“Unless safeguards are in place, A.I. can spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work, and how we protect our nation,” the president said. “In the age of A.I., it’s more important than ever that the people must govern, and as the land of liberty, America — not China — must lead the world in the development of A.I.”In interviews with the Sun before the address on Wednesday, some Democratic lawmakers recognized the political failings of the Biden White House, while asserting that the president would be remembered fondly in due time. The first member of Congress to endorse Mr. Biden in 2019, Congressman Stephen Lynch, likened the outgoing president to another one-term commander-in-chief. “Just like with Carter … look at the price of everything, and the situation with the hostages,” Mr. Lynch said in an interview at the Capitol on Wednesday. “I just feel for Joe because it wasn’t the way he wanted to go out, but he should be proud of himself.”“He did his best,” Mr. Lynch said in a ringing endorsement. President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk at the lift-off of SpaceX’s Starship, November 19, 2024. Brandon Bell/pool via APCongresswoman Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, has known Mr. Biden and his wife, Jill, for decades. Her late husband, Congressman John Dingell, represented central Michigan in the House from 1955 to 2015, when Ms. Dingell took his seat. “It’s been one of the worst years of my life,” Ms. Dingell explained, referring to Mr. Biden’s departure, the Democrats’ loss, and the Israel-Hamas war. “Some of the legislation that we passed will last for years to come, and I suspect, like other presidents, people will appreciate what he’s done and what he accomplished,” she said. Senator Kaine said the same thing, telling the Sun that “I think he’s going to be remembered for some really solid accomplishments, particularly restarting American manufacturing, jump-starting American infrastructure, [and] the expansion of NATO.”Senator Durbin, who has chaired the Judiciary Committee for the last four years, has known the president since he was first elected to Congress in the 1980s. When asked by the Sun how Mr. Biden would be remembered years from now, Mr. Durbin joked: “That’s a thumb-sucker of a question,” though after a pause, highlighted the historic number of judges Mr. Biden had appointed to the bench. President Biden delivers a farewell Address to the Nation from the Oval Office while (from left to right) Vice President Harris, U.S. First Lady Jill Biden, son Hunter Biden, and daughter-in-law Melissa Cohen Biden listen on at the White House on January 15, 2025 at Washington, DC. Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty ImagesEven Senator Capito, a member of GOP leadership who worked with Mr. Biden on a number of bipartisan pieces of legislation, says the jury may be out on Mr. Biden for a little while, though she cautioned that he has certain failures he will never live down. “You know, I remember George W. Bush said one time, the immediacy of an ‘after’ president, you can’t really judge, but I will say the border is pretty much gonna define him,” she said in a conversation with the Sun.

‘An Oligarchy Is Taking Shape,’ Biden Warns in His Farewell Address

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