President Joe Biden’s farewell address Wednesday was replete with oddities and falsehoods. Evidently convinced that they could use it against their political foes and hurt President-elect Donald Trump’s appeal with working-class voters, affluent Democrats and fellow travelers seized on one of Biden’s statements in particular, namely his suggestion that “an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power, and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), for instance, tried to use the outgoing president’s claim to concern-monger during his Thursday grilling of Scott Bessent, Trump’s pick to run the Treasury Department, suggesting that the presence of billionaire Elon Musk in the Trump administration was troubling. Bessent responded by noting the hollowness of Biden’s rhetoric, highlighting the president’s decision to award billionaire and Democratic megadonor George Soros with the Presidential Medal of Freedom earlier this month.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) similarly embraced Biden’s 11th-hour concern about American oligarchy, noting on X, “Every American should listen to the warning @POTUS left us with: An oligarchy is taking shape in America that could threaten the progress we’ve made. He’s right.”
“Instead of helping working families, the GOP is intent on rigging the system even further in favor of the ultra-rich,” added Schumer, who has received donations from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and various other billionaires.
Tiffany Muller, president of the pro-Democrat activist group End Citizens United, apparently also got the memo on the new talking point, stating Thursday, “Donald Trump’s inauguration next week is the beginning of an oligarchy that’s been 15 years in the making.”
‘Most people who are paying attention know that most elites and billionaires have shoveled money into the coffers of one party in this country for a long time.’
While Biden, Schumer, and others are keen to credit their political rivals with the supposed growth of an American oligarchy — meaning rule by a small group of people, in contrast to plutocracy, which specifically refers to rule by the wealthiest — they are throwing rocks from an expensive glass house.
Bloomberg reported that Biden’s time in office proved a golden age for the wealthiest of Americans. The wealth of the 100 richest individuals in the country increased by over $1.5 trillion over the past four years. According to Federal Reserve estimates through September, the top 0.1% gained over $6 trillion while Democrats controlled the White House and Senate.
It certainly didn’t hurt that the Democratic-controlled 117th Congress approved Biden’s so-called Build Back Better Act, which included enormous federal tax cuts for the ultra-rich, or that Biden championed unprecedented inflationary spending benefiting the wealthy.
Many of the nation’s wealthiest individuals, in many cases beneficiaries of Democratic policies, have backed the campaigns of Democratic lawmakers and worked to keep them in power in recent years.
USA Today reported in November that 83 billionaires, including two with a net worth of over $100 billion each, supported Kamala Harris’ doomed presidential campaign. Trump had 31 fewer billionaires back him and only one supporting centibillionaire, Elon Musk.
Those now clutching pearls about Musk serving in the incoming administration have not only glossed over this detail but previously proved unwilling to condemn billionaire Mark Zuckerberg for helping swing the 2020 election for Democrats.
“Most people who are paying attention know that most elites and billionaires have shoveled money into the coffers of one party in this country for a long time. Every wealthy bank, everyone in finance, everyone in every industry has basically — except for one or two — has funneled their money into the Democratic Party,” said Blaze News editor in chief Matthew Peterson on the Thursday episode of “Blaze News Tonight.”
A 2023 paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Perspectives on Politics noted that up until 1992, affluent voters preferred Republican candidates. However, “it is increasingly the case that the income groups that most prefer Democratic candidates are the lowest and highest income categories — hence, a ‘U-shape.’ For example, in 2016 and 2020, [Cooperative Election Study] data shows that the top two income quintiles (i.e., 80%-100% and 60%-80%) preferred the Democrat (i.e., Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden) over the Republican (i.e., Donald Trump) more than the twentieth through sixtieth percentiles did.”
Exit polls revealed that in the 2024 presidential election, the majority of voters whose total family income exceeded $200,000 voted for Harris.
Nina Turner, the national co-chair for Sanders’ last presidential campaign, blasted Biden over his oligarchy comments, telling the Associated Press, “It’s cowardly that after representing the oligarchs for 50 years in office, he calls out this threat to our nation with just days left in his presidency.”
“[Biden] enabled, benefited from, and emboldened the system that threatens us all, while he will ride off into the sunset and won’t feel the harms of what’s been built,” added Turner.
Before his ouster from the presidential race, Biden and groups supporting his re-election campaign received oodles of cash from a group of billionaires worth roughly $170 billion, including former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose net worth is around $104.7 billion.
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Chuck schumer, Schumer, Oligarchy, Plutocracy, Rich, Wealthy, Republic, United states, Gop, Joe biden, Accusation, Politics
