President Biden delivered his Farewell Address on Wednesday. Presidents usually use this final primetime slot to pat themselves on the back and hand historians the first draft of their legacy. That’s why these speeches are often as forgettable as the annual State of the Union Address.
The notable exception is Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address in January 1961. Biden evoked its enduring relevance and shocked Americans by channeling Ike’s famous warning about a military-industrial complex:
Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead… Six decades later, I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex. It could pose real dangers for our country as well. Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power.
I agree.
But I wasn’t shocked or awed. Because Biden was merely echoing warnings I’ve been sounding for years — and in far more explicit terms. It turns out “wannabe oligarchs” were so confident Trump’s reelection was a done deal, they were openly courting him and positioning their businesses to thrive under his Putin-style autocracy.
Here’s what I wrote a year ago this week, when they were falling over themselves at the Davos Economic Forum for TV time to flatter Trump:
It seems business elites are joining media elites in doing their damnedest to make Trump’s re-election a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because corporate titans like Dimon [CEO of JPMorgan Chase] fully expect to thrive as oligarchs under a Trump dictatorship. No doubt these Davos elites have in mind the way oligarchs have thrived for decades under Putin’s – democracy and the general welfare be damned.
In fact, I have published many prescient and ominous commentaries in this regard, including three with these telling titles:
- “Civil War II Between Red States and Blue States: The Fighting Has Already Begun,” January 18, 2024
- “Why Are So Many Billionaires Supporting Trump? Greed!” June 9, 2024
- “Trump Will Extort ‘Broligarchs’ to Become Richer than Elon Musk,” on December 12, 2024
Enough said? Except that I feel obliged to share this warning about Biden’s Farewell Address:
Biden’s comparison of the tech-industrial complex to Eisenhower’s military-industrial complex felt like an unwitting concession. Defense contractors have long made a mockery of Ike’s warning. Tech oligarchs seem poised to do the same with Biden’s.
And this is my clarion call to confront the threat Biden and I are warning about:
No American should forget — as history shall duly record — that wannabe oligarchs like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg were willing to sell out American democracy to curry favor with a wannabe dictator like Trump. So here’s to an American Robespierre leading a real populist revolution against them.