In President Joe Biden’s final sit-down interview Thursday, the outgoing president told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell that America’s “fragile democracy” worries him as he prepares his White House exit.
“I really am concerned about how fragile democracy is. That sounds corny, but I mean, I really am concerned,” Biden said on Thursday’s “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell.” “You’ve heard me say it 100 times. I really think we’re in an inflection point in history here.”
The concerns expressed in his final interview echoed Wednesday night’s presidential farewell address, in which he warned Americans that the nation is turning into an “oligarchy” that is controlled by tech billionaires.
Some of President-elect Donald Trump’s supporters include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla founder Elon Musk, all of whom are expected to be in attendance at Monday’s inauguration ceremony. Trump also tapped Musk to co-lead his newly developed Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.).
Watch Biden’s MSNBC interview below:
Elsewhere in his interview, Biden shared the backstory of why he got into politics in the first place: his objection to others’ “abuse of power.”
“I got involved in public life because of the abuse of power,” Biden explained. “My Dad would say you know the greatest sin of all is the abuse of power … The reason for all the safeguards out there is in a very straight way to say keep the bullies from taking advantage of everybody else, basic guard rails. I think this concentration of enormous wealth and power in a circumstance where everything’s changing, and the biggest thing changing is ‘How do we communicate with one another?’”
He continued: “There’s a Supreme Court that’s independent, but not accountable. There’s a Congress that you speak your mind but you’re held accountable to basic standards. There’s a presidency that says you have really limited powers. You’re the top dog, but you’re not, you can’t dictate everything … They just seem to be chipping away at all those elements.”
When asked how his concerns of an oligarchy would impact Americans, Biden said through media and the economy.
“The decisions made. That the multibillionaires, the super, super wealthy, the wealthiest people in the world begin to control all the apparatuses from the media to the economy, and who do I get to fight back for me?” Biden said.
Aside from domestic issues, Biden also shared concerns with the ongoing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, among other social and political issues. Watch the interview above.
