Warns the demise of ‘fact-checking’ could lead to ‘oligarchy’

A very sleepy President Joe Biden bid farewell to the nation on Wednesday in a low-energy Oval Office address. It was an utterly forgettable speech, written by the celebrity historian Jon Meacham and read from a teleprompter (with considerable difficulty) by an 82-year-old man who is clearly unfit to serve another four days in office, let alone the extra four years he felt he deserved.

Biden began by attempting to take sole credit for the recently negotiated hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, even though his own State Department spokesman had recently praised President-elect Donald Trump for the “absolutely critical” role he played in finalizing the agreement. He attempted to speak profoundly about how the Statue of Liberty is a metaphor for America, an “enduring symbol of the soul of our nation” that was “built to withstand the fury of stormy weather.” He rambled semi-coherently about the Founding Fathers and the importance of overcoming challenges. “Democracy must defend, and be defined, and be imposed, moved in every way possible,” he said, whatever that means.

The president congratulated himself for launching “a new era of American possibilities” and listed his alleged accomplishments, including making “affordable high-speed internet” available “for every American.” Biden was presumably referring to the $42 billion program he authorized in November 2021 that has yet to deliver tangible results due to bureaucratic ineptitude. He bragged about signing “the most significant climate and clean energy law ever, ever in the history of the world.” He was referring to a bill called the Inflation Reduction Act.

A recent CNN poll found that 61 percent of Americans viewed Biden’s presidency as a failure, but Biden seemed at least somewhat confident that the American people would thank him later. “You know, it will take time to feel the full impact of all we’ve done together, but the seeds are planted, and they’ll grow and they’ll bloom for decades to come,” he said.

Biden wished “success” to the incoming Trump administration, and argued the country was “in a position to succeed” on Trump’s watch, a significant departure from Biden’s past rhetoric and that of other Democrats, who repeatedly warned that Trump’s victory would bring about “the end of American democracy as we know it.” Then, in an apparent attempt at grandiosity, Biden proceeded to warn Americans of the threat posed by the “tech industrial complex,” a cheap nod to President Dwight Eisenhower’s parting admonition about the rise of a “military industrial complex” at the height of the Cold War.

“Today 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,” Biden said. “Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power. The free press is crumbling. Editors are disappearing. Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit.”

Those poor fact-checkers, who will no longer get paid to label something “false” if a Democratic spokesman disagrees with it. Biden was simply regurgitating the hottest new Democratic talking points cooked up by the same party elites who insisted he was fit to serve another term and Vice President Kamala Harris was competent and likable enough to win. He moaned about the “existential threat of climate change” and the sinister influence of modern-day “robber barons” injecting “dark money” into politics. He did not mention George Soros, the left-wing activist billionaire he recently awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In what might be considered a parting shot at former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who played a key role in forcing his exit from the 2024 election, Biden called for a ban on members of Congress trading stocks while in office.

It was another uninspired speech by a lame duck leader destined to be remembered as the guy whose photo is sandwiched between Trump’s on presidential charts and posters. Hunter Biden, the crackhead son he pardoned after insisting he wouldn’t, looked on from the Oval Office. “It’s your turn to stand guard,” he read into the camera. Now it’s his turn to leave, and Americans could not be happier to see him go.