President Biden warned in his farewell speech of an “ultra-wealthy” “oligarchy” posing a risk to America as huge tech CEOs have been warming as much as President-elect Trump in latest months — regardless of his personal administration accepting donations from Democratic mega-donors.
Biden spoke Wednesday as studies emerged this week that Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg – the three most rich folks on this planet who collectively are value greater than $850 billion, in keeping with Forbes – can be seated subsequent to Trump’s Cabinet picks and elected officers subsequent Monday at his inauguration.
“I’ve little doubt that America is able to proceed to succeed. That’s why in my farewell handle tonight, I wish to warn the nation of some issues that give me nice concern. And that is the harmful focus of energy within the arms of a only a few, ultra-wealthy folks. And the damaging penalties if their abuse of energy is left unchecked,” Biden mentioned from the Oval Office.
“Today, an oligarchy is taking form in America of maximum wealth, energy and affect that actually threatens our whole democracy, our primary rights, freedoms, and a good shot for everybody to get forward,” Biden continued. “We see the results all throughout America, and we have seen it earlier than, greater than a century in the past. But the American folks stood as much as the robber barons again then and busted the belief. They did not punish the rich, they simply made the rich play by the foundations everyone else needed to.”
BIDEN TAKENS SOLE CREDIT FOR ISRAEL-HAMAS DEAL, WARNS OF ‘OLIGARCHY’ IN FAREWELL SPEECH
U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, President-elect Donald Trump, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Vice President-elect JD Vance attend the a hundred and twenty fifth Army-Navy soccer recreation at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., on Dec. 14. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
BIDEN’S BILLIONAIRES: SUPER RICH BACK DEM DESPITE PLEDGE TO RAISE THEIR TAXES
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, Bezos, the founding father of Amazon, and Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, have all met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago dwelling in Florida following his election victory in November.
During the election cycle, Musk gave not less than $277 million in donations to assist get Trump and different Republicans elected, in keeping with The Washington Post, which cited filings from the Federal Election Commission.
Tech giants together with Amazon, Meta, Apple, Google and Microsoft are reported to have donated $1 million every to Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
A side-by-side of Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
In 2023, George Soros and different distinguished billionaires bolstered Biden’s re-election efforts throughout the third quarter, filings reviewed by Fox News Digital present.
The deep-pocketed donors every reduce six-figure contributions to the Biden Victory Fund — a joint fundraising enterprise that consists of Biden’s marketing campaign, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), all 50 state Democratic events and Washington, D.C.’s Democratic committee — between July and September.
Later in 2023, Fox News Digital confirmed {that a} Soros-funded group pushed $15 million to a nonprofit tied to Biden’s predominant outdoors tremendous PAC for the 2024 elections to guage essential coverage issues, data reveal.
Tax paperwork supplied to Fox News Digital confirmed that the Open Society Policy Center, an advocacy nonprofit within the Soros-bankrolled Open Society Foundations community, funneled $15.18 million to Future Forward USA Action in 2022 for analysis and “content material testing on essential coverage points.”
That identical 12 months, billionaire Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder, dropped a huge six-figure donation backing Biden’s re-election bid.
As far again as 2020, billionaires Howard Schultz, former Starbucks CEO, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and investor Tom Steyer made substantial donations to the Biden marketing campaign.
BIDEN’S RE-ELECTION EFFORTS BOLSTERED BY MASSIVE DONATIONS FROM GEORGE SOROS AND OTHER BILLIONAIRES
For his half within the incoming Trump administration, Musk has been tasked with heading up the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is able to look at points of presidency spending, waste, effectivity and operations.
In order to try this, Musk may occupy space within the Eisenhower Executive Office Building proper subsequent to the West Wing that homes the majority of workplace area for White House staffers, the New York Times reported.
HOLLYWOOD MOGULS, BILLIONAIRES FLOOD BIDEN’S VICTORY FUND WITH SIX-FIGURE DONATIONS
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets Elon Musk as he arrives to attend a viewing of the launch of the sixth check flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket on Nov. 19, 2024 in Brownsville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Biden additionally mentioned in his farewell speech that American management and know-how is an “unparalleled supply of innovation that may rework lives,” however “we see the identical risks, the focus of know-how, energy and wealth.”
“You know, in his farewell handle, President Eisenhower spoke of the risks of the navy industrial advanced. He warned us then about, and I quote, the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced energy, finish of quote. Six many years later, I’m equally involved concerning the potential rise of a tech industrial advanced that would pose actual risks for our nation, as effectively,” Biden added.
“Americans are being buried underneath an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of energy. The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on truth checking. The reality is smothered by lies advised for energy and for revenue,” the president continued. “We should maintain the social platform accountable to guard our youngsters, our households and our very democracy from the abuse of energy.
Jeff Bezos, proper, is predicted to have a distinguished seat at Trump’s inauguration subsequent week, studies say. (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The New York Times)
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“Meanwhile, synthetic intelligence is probably the most consequential know-how of our time, maybe of all time. Nothing affords extra profound prospects and dangers for our economic system and our safety, our society, for humanity. Artificial intelligence even has the potential to assist us reply my name to finish most cancers as we all know it. But until safeguards are in place, AI might spawn new threats to our rights, our lifestyle, to our privateness, how we work and the way we defend our nation. We should ensure that AI is secure and reliable and good for all humankind,” Biden mentioned.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller, Joe Schoffstall, Jessica Chasmar and Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
