Updated January 15, 2025 at 20:47 PM ET
President Biden delivered his farewell address to the nation on Wednesday, taking to the Oval Office for one last opportunity to frame his legacy and to deliver a warning about the unchecked abuse of power and wealth and what he described as an emerging oligarchy.
Speaking from behind the Resolute Desk, Biden sought to sound an alarm about "a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra wealthy people" that he said threatens to undermine the very fabric of American life.
"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," he said.
The address was an echo of the farewell address that President Dwight Eisenhower delivered to the nation in 1961, in which he famously warned about the dangers of an emerging "military industrial complex." Today, Biden said, that threat that he saw was coming from a "tech industrial complex."
Biden, 82, has spent roughly half a century in Washington politics, and had hoped for another four years at the White House. On Monday, he will be succeeded by Donald Trump — a leader Biden had vowed to make a one-term president.
Biden ran for president insisting the soul of the nation was at stake. That's still the case, Biden said today in a letter to the American public. "History is in your hands. The power is in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands."
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