Biden warns of oligarchy in farewell address

President Joe Biden gives farewell address

'Now it's your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame.'

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan / Pool / AFP via Getty Images)

published 16 January 2025

What happened

President Joe Biden gave a farewell address from the Oval Office Wednesday evening that focused at least as much on the dangers he saw ahead for America as his own accomplishments in office. The 17-minute speech was a capstone to Biden's 50 years in public service, days before he hands power to a president-elect he has called an "existential threat" to democracy.

Biden warned that the "dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people" was leading toward an American "oligarchy" that "literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead." He was "equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech industrial complex," as unchecked social media giants leave Americans "buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation, enabling the abuse of power."

Biden "did not explicitly name" Donald Trump in his speech, The New York Times said, but his warning "went straight at the tension at the heart of the incoming administration, in which billionaires like Elon Musk are positioned to wield enormous influence." Musk, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos have "prime seating" next to Cabinet nominees on the dais at Trump's inauguration on Monday, illustrating the "deepening ties" between favor-currying tech titans and the incoming administration, The Washington Post said. And Trump's Cabinet is "slated to be the wealthiest group of presidential advisers in modern history."

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Biden said it would "take time to feel the full impact" of his accomplishments on infrastructure, climate change, manufacturing, semiconductors and health care, but "the seeds are planted and they'll grow and they'll bloom" for decades. "I still believe in the idea for which this nation stands," but "now it's your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame," he added. "Thank you for this great honor."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.