President Biden warned in his farewell speech of an ‘ultra-wealthy’ ‘oligarchy’ posing a threat to America as big tech CEOS have been warming up to President-elect Trump in recent months.
Biden spoke Wednesday as reports emerged this week that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg – the three most wealthy people in the world who collectively are worth more than $850 billion, according to Forbes – will be seated next to Trump’s cabinet picks and elected officials next Monday at his inauguration.
‘I have no doubt that America is in a position to continue to succeed. That’s why in my farewell address tonight, I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And that’s the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few, ultra-wealthy people. And the dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked,’ Biden said from the Oval Office.
‘Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights, freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,’ Biden continued. ‘We see the consequences all across America, and we’ve seen it before, more than a century ago. But the American people stood up to the robber barons back then and busted the trust. They didn’t punish the wealthy, they just made the wealthy play by the rules everybody else had to.’
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, have all met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida following his election victory in November.
During the election cycle, Musk gave at least $277 million in donations to help get Trump and other Republicans elected, according to The Washington Post, which cited filings from the Federal Election Commission.
Tech giants including Amazon, Meta, Apple, Google and Microsoft are reported to have donated $1 million each to Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Musk has been tasked with heading up the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will examine issues of government spending, waste, efficiency and operations.
In order to do that, Musk may occupy space in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building right next to the West Wing that houses the bulk of office space for White House staffers, the New York Times reported.
Biden also said in his farewell speech that American leadership and technology is an ‘unparalleled source of innovation that can transform lives,’ but ‘we see the same dangers, the concentration of technology, power and wealth.’
‘You know, in his farewell address, President Eisenhower spoke of the dangers of the military industrial complex. He warned us then about, and I quote, the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power, end of quote. Six decades later, I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex that could pose real dangers for our country, as well,’ Biden added.
‘Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power. The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit,’ the president continued. ‘We must hold the social platform accountable to protect our children, our families and our very democracy from the abuse of power.
‘Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is the most consequential technology of our time, perhaps of all time. Nothing offers more profound possibilities and risks for our economy and our security, our society, for humanity. Artificial intelligence even has the potential to help us answer my call to end cancer as we know it. But unless safeguards are in place, AI could spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work and how we protect our nation. We must make sure AI is safe and trustworthy and good for all humankind,’ Biden said.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller and Diana Stancy contributed to this report.