A rather somber farewell speech, far from the optimism professed by the outgoing president over the last four years. In a speech lasting less than twenty minutes, delivered Wednesday at prime time behind the Oval Office, Joe Biden expressed concern about seeing America fall into the hands of an “oligarchy”, targeting Donald Trump and the tech multi-billionaires now behind him.
“I want to warn the country about certain things that worry me greatly,” said the 82-year-old Democrat, five days before handing over power to his biggest rival, the Republican president-elect. “It’s about the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-rich people” and the “dangerous consequences if their power is left unchecked,” he said. “An oligarchy is taking shape in America” and it “concretely threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms,” continued Joe Biden, in an obvious allusion to Donald Trump, billionaire, as well as the extremely wealthy tech bosses, first and foremost Elon Musk.
He spoke of the emergence of a “technological-industrial complex” of immense power, echoing the farewell speech of former President Dwight Eisenhower, who had warned in 1961 against the rise of the “military complex”. -industrial”.
The boss of Tesla, SpaceX and American NBC.
These “three people today have more wealth than the poorest half of American society,” Bernie Sanders, a figure of the left in the United States, protested on Tuesday.
“Americans are buried under an avalanche of disinformation that allows the abuse of power,” Joe Biden further deplored, calling for social networks to be “accountable” and to put in place “safeguards” on the ‘artificial intelligence.
The “concentration of wealth and power (…) undermines the sense of unity and the common good,” said the 46th President of the United States, who was surrounded by members of his family.
He was also alarmed by “powerful forces” who would like to “eliminate the measures we have taken to confront the climate crisis. » These very strong warnings relegated to second place, in his speech, the desire to defend his record, in particular the launch of gigantic investment plans and the reestablishment of the United States’ major international alliances. Concluding his speech, on the evening of fifty years of political life, Joe Biden told his compatriots: “It’s your turn to stand guard.”
When he returns to his Republican rival on January 20 the keys to the White House, which he had taken from him in a hard struggle four years ago, the 82-year-old Democrat will experience immense humiliation. In 2019, Joe Biden assured that Donald Trump “would remain in history as a passing aberration”.
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