US President Joe Biden delivers his farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 15, 2025. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / POOL / AFP)
One of life’s delicious ironies is that the supporters of Donald Trump – including his fans in SA – believe he is a man of the people leading the charge against “the elite”… while he is, in reality, part of that group himself.
His backers are outrageously rich tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg who – again in an irony that the right wing misses – are the new “mainstream media” because they control online platforms with billions of users.
In an unprecedented farewell speech this week, outgoing President Joe Biden warned that the United States is in danger of turning into an oligarchy, where the ultrarich effectively run the lives of the middle class and the poor.
“I really am concerned about how fragile democracy is,” Biden said.
“I really think we’re in an inflection point in history here where, unrelated to any particular leader, things are going to change drastically.”
Biden’s critics might well point out that he paved the way for Trump to win the election – and that his farewell would have been sour grapes.
But what if he is correct and Trump’s supporters have been hoodwinked by an oligarch?
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
