Biden warns of Trump ‘oligarchy’ in dark farewell speech

revival, sparked new semiconductor chips manufacturing, and tackled climate change as they tried to rebalance inequality and invest in the future. He leaves an outperforming US economy and optimistic businesses.

But Biden was unable to heal divisions in the country the way he had hoped, or stop democratic backsliding around the world. His crowning political achievement — defeating Trump in 2020 — proved temporary. Now the Republican president-elect has vowed to undo much of what the Democratic administration accomplished.

“All Joe Biden wanted was to be remembered for the great things he did for this country and, at least in the short run, they’ve been eclipsed by his ill-conceived decision to run,” said David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama.

“He became a historic president when he defeated Trump. So obviously the fact that Trump is resurgent and returning to power, more powerful than he was when he left, is an unhappy coda to the story.” Biden addressed what he described as an ongoing threat to the country in a letter released early on Wednesday by the White House.

“I ran for president because I believed that the soul of America was at stake. The very nature of who we are was at stake. And, that’s still the case,” he said, urging Americans to keep fighting for the country’s focus on equality, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

A White House official said that legacies are set over the long term. In historical terms, it has been a millisecond since the election. This president has locked in the most significant legislative record since LBJ (President Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s), and the irreversible benefits of those laws will grow over decades,“ the official said.

Senator Chris Coons, a longtime ally, said Biden faced an economic crisis, a public health crisis, and a democracy crisis following the Jan 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters when he came into office that year.

“The country was in the depths of crises. The recovery from that pandemic has been his single greatest accomplishment,” Coons said.

Biden’s administration oversaw the distribution of Covid vaccines and an economic recovery that defied predictions of a recession, even as inflation soared and prices remained high, which soured voters on his economic stewardship.

Republicans seized on public frustration in last year’s election, stoking anger over high prices with accusations of Democrat elitism and disconnection from working-class voters, while blaming immigrants for high prices, despite a lack of evidence.

You cannot reverse four and a half decades of rising inequality with a few years of absolute good economic outcomes and policy changes, said Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute.

“But one of the most fundamental things they did was provide relief recovery at the scale that was needed to generate a strong jobs recovery.”