Dem
47
GOP
53
In his farewell address, George Washington warned against factionalism (what we now call political parties), while in his farewell address, Dwight Eisenhower warned against the military-industrial complex. Yesterday Joe Biden gave his farewell address and he warned the American people about the tech-industrial complex running the country. Literally, he said:
An oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights, freedom and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. We must not be bullied into sacrificing the future, the future of our children and grandchildren.
He didn't name any names, but somebody has to do it, so it might as well be us. How about Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Charles Koch and Jeff Bezos, to start with? Then there are the megadonors, like these:
| Rank | Contributor | Total Contributions | Total Hard Money | Total Outside Money | To Dems. | To GOP | Orientation |
| 1 | Elon Musk | $280,237,379 | $1,049,700 | $279,187,679 | $0 | $280,237,379 | GOP/Conservative |
| 2 | Timothy Mellon | $197,047,200 | $43,900 | $197,003,300 | ($2,900) | $172,042,500 | GOP/Conservative |
| 3 | Miriam Adelson | $144,185,700 | $4,530,700 | $139,655,000 | $0 | $144,175,700 | GOP/Conservative |
| 4 | Richard Uihlein | $143,497,236 | $4,029,235 | $139,468,001 | $0 | $143,462,206 | GOP/Conservative |
| 5 | Kenneth Griffin | $106,408,884 | $1,408,884 | $105,000,000 | $0 | $106,405,484 | GOP/Conservative |
| 6 | Jeffrey Yass | $101,128,680 | $960,399 | $100,168,281 | $1,500 | $100,322,180 | GOP/Conservative |
| 7 | Paul Singer | $64,804,100 | $2,654,100 | $62,150,000 | $0 | $62,799,100 | GOP/Conservative |
| 8 | Dustin Moskovitz | $50,661,800 | $661,800 | $50,000,000 | $50,661,800 | $0 | Dem./Liberal |
| 9 | Mike Bloomberg | $49,889,734 | $752,950 | $49,136,784 | $46,389,734 | $1,000,000 | Dem./Liberal |
| 10 | Marc Andreessen | $42,316,563 | $1,691,563 | $40,625,000 | $1,778,306 | $6,978,257 | Leans GOP/Conservative |
| 11 | Ben Horowitz | $41,939,202 | $814,202 | $41,125,000 | $4,154,948 | $4,232,154 | On the fence |
| 12 | Stephen Schwarzman | $40,195,546 | $3,020,546 | $37,175,000 | $0 | $40,167,746 | GOP/Conservative |
| 13 | Timothy Dunn | $35,586,700 | $1,886,700 | $33,700,000 | $0 | $35,578,400 | GOP/Conservative |
| 14 | Rob Bigelow | $34,991,500 | $815,600 | $34,175,900 | $0 | $34,991,500 | GOP/Conservative |
| 15 | Reid Hoffman | $34,880,900 | $3,605,300 | $31,275,600 | $27,971,200 | $400,000 | Dem./Liberal |
| 16 | John Ricketts | $32,638,050 | $5,708,050 | $26,930,000 | $0 | $32,629,750 | GOP/Conservative |
| 17 | James Simons | $32,135,619 | $1,735,619 | $30,400,000 | $31,955,369 | $0 | Dem./Liberal |
| 18 | Fred Eychaner | $31,061,000 | $2,616,000 | $28,445,000 | $31,061,000 | $0 | Dem./Liberal |
| 19 | Diane Hendricks | $30,868,415 | $2,286,811 | $28,581,604 | $0 | $30,858,415 | GOP/Conservative |
| 20 | Stephen Mandel | $27,001,200 | $4,241,200 | $22,760,000 | $23,393,200 | $63,200 | Dem./Liberal |
| 21 | Shirley Ryan | $25,551,084 | $2,899,684 | $22,651,400 | $0 | $25,484,484 | GOP/Conservative |
| 22 | Laura Perlmutter | $25,344,890 | $243,350 | $25,101,540 | $0 | $25,344,890 | GOP/Conservative |
| 23 | Warren Stephens | $24,908,850 | $2,503,850 | $22,405,000 | ($2,900) | $24,896,750 | GOP/Conservative |
| 24 | Vince McMahon | $23,934,000 | $2,159,000 | $21,775,000 | $0 | $23,934,035 | GOP/Conservative |
| 25 | Jan Koum | $20,851,793 | $736,710 | $20,115,083 | $3,300 | $20,848,483 | GOP/Conservative |
| Total | $1,642,066,025 | $53,055,853 | $1,589,010,172 | $217,364,557 | $1,316,852,613 |
These vast amounts of money from—and let's get our terminology right here—oligarchs, allow ultra wealthy people to try to buy political power for their benefit. In most cases, the oligarchs (who are overwhelmingly Republicans) just want lower taxes and fewer government regulations on their businesses, but in a few cases (e.g., Musk), they want direct political power over multiple facets of government. This is what Biden was warning about.
Biden also warned about the Supreme Court running rampant (especially giving the president unchecked power). He urged the country to amend the Constitution to state plainly that no person in the country, specifically including the president, is above the law. If an amendment is going to be circulated, we would argue for wording more like: "No person or organization, specifically including the president, vice president, members of Congress, and all other federal, state, and local elected and appointed officials, is above the law and all can be duly prosecuted for crimes committed in or out of office as prescribed by law." Could that ever happen? Next time a Democrat is president, Republicans might be willing to go for it. Who knows?
Biden's final words were: "Now it's your turn to stand guard. May you all be the keeper of the flame. May you keep the faith. I love America. You love it, too. God bless you all. May God protect our troops. Thank you for this great honor."
How will history judge Biden? That's really hard to say so early. We can safely say that the price of eggs, that so figured in Kamala Harris' defeat, will not get a full page in history books written in 2124. In 100 years, people will still remember Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act, but we doubt that anything Biden signed will be long remembered. If we had to guess, we think history will remember him something like Jimmy Carter: a decent human being who was the wrong president for the era in which he served. Biden was not a military hero (like Ulysses S. Grant or Eisenhower) or a president who was handed an existential crisis and dealt with it (like Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Delano Roosevelt). Biden was a good person who was president at a turbulent time and was not a forceful leader when the country needed one. For 2 years, the Democrats had a narrow trifecta. Yes, Sens. Krysten Sinema and Joe Manchin were difficult, but that wouldn't have stopped Lyndon Johnson at all. He would have found a way, but that was not Biden's style.
On the other hand, there were no scandals at all during Biden's 4 years, the country had peace and prosperity despite much grumbling and partisanship. Could he have done more? Sure, he could have fired Merrick Garland and hired Jack Smith to replace him and told him to move fast. He could even have told him to take a look to see if any Supreme Court justices had violated any ethics laws and, if so, indict them. Biden could have given more speeches from the Oval Office and appeared as a leader more.
But in the end, his biggest mistake was not making an announcement in February 2023 saying: "My task was to make a transition from a difficult period. I have achieved that. Therefore, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president." He wouldn't be the first one to say that, but what the country needed was a vigorous Democratic primary in 2024 and Biden precluded that. Depending on what happens with respect to democracy and oligarchy in the next 4 years, that may end up being his real legacy. (V)