President Joe Biden’s farewell address Wednesday night struck an odd note as he warned about the dangers of wealthy tech executives and tax-dodging elites – just weeks after granting his son Hunter an unprecedented decade-long pardon shielding him from tax fraud charges.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Biden tried to channel President Eisenhower’s famous 1961 warning about the military-industrial complex.
Biden took aim at tech executives and the ultra-wealthy who must “pay their fair share of taxes,” declaring:
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy,”
BREAKING: In his farewell address, President Joe Biden warns the nation about the dangers of an “ultrawealthy oligarchy” that must “pay their fair share of taxes.”
However, just weeks ago, Biden granted his son, Hunter, an unprecedented decade-long pardon, shielding him from tax… pic.twitter.com/QPH8YRyRvd
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) January 16, 2025
Tech Industry’s Role in Biden’s 2020 Victory
Adding to the contradictions, just weeks before the 2020 election, major social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook restricted sharing of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story – a decision that even Twitter’s then-CEO Jack Dorsey later admitted was a mistake.
A 2022 Meta/Facebook investigation revealed that the FBI had warned platforms about potential “Russian propaganda” ahead of the story breaking, leading to increased scrutiny and censorship of Hunter Biden-related content.
“I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers to our country as well,” Biden said Wednesday, seemingly forgetting how tech platform decisions benefited his 2020 campaign.
Beyond the laptop story suppression, his campaign also benefited from Mark Zuckerberg’s controversial election grants to local governments, which predominantly aided Democratic-leaning areas.
The real threat to democracy might be the selective application of rules and the coordination between government agencies and tech companies.
Critics argue Biden’s warnings carry weight given Trump’s close ties to billionaires like Elon Musk, who reportedly spent over $100 million supporting Trump’s recent campaign. However, conservative commentators point out that Biden’s administration maintained close relationships with other tech giants throughout his term, even as evidence emerged about the suppression of stories unfavorable to his family.
Biden’s Proposal for a Constitutional Amendment on Presidential Immunity
The president’s speech also called for a constitutional amendment to end immunity for sitting presidents – a response to recent Supreme Court rulings protecting presidential immunity. This proposal raised eyebrows among constitutional scholars, who note such changes could fundamentally alter the balance of presidential power that’s existed since the nation’s founding.
It’s important to note that while Biden frames the amendment as a check on presidential power, it could potentially expose future presidents to politically motivated prosecutions while doing nothing to address the kind of family-related pardons and influence-peddling that have marked his own presidency.
Calling for limits on presidential immunity while exercising sweeping pardon powers for your own son sends a message – it’s not about limiting power, it’s about limiting your successor’s power.
Lessons for Successors
As Biden prepares to hand over power to President-elect Donald Trump on Monday, his warnings about oligarchy and tech power ring hollow given his own family’s extensive network of shell companies, foreign payments, and suspicious banking activity.
Perhaps the most telling aspect of Biden’s farewell address isn’t what he said about oligarchs and tech power, but what he left unsaid about his own family’s complex web of foreign dealings, tax issues, and privileged pardons. The question conservatives might ask isn’t whether concentrated power poses risks – it’s whether those warning about it today were comfortable with it when it worked in their favor.
As Americans process his warnings about concentrated wealth and power, they might reflect on a simpler truth: real threats to democracy often come not from the wealthy opponents we denounce in public, but from the questionable practices we excuse in private.
This article was written with the assistance of AI. Please verify information and consult additional sources as needed.
