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The ReidOut with Joy Reid

Biden warns of new 'oligarchy' in farewell address

The ReidOut with Joy Reid

NBCNews

President, Washington, Msnbc, Government, Senate, Policy, Society & Culture, Congress, News, Nbc, Politics

4.53.1K Ratings

🗓️ 17 January 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tonight on The ReidOut, Joy Reid brings you a preview of an exclusive new interview our colleague Lawrence O'Donnell just completed with President Biden, marking his final interview from the Oval Office. Also, with President Biden and Vice President Harris stepping down on Monday, we delve into what the future of the Democratic Party should look like and who should lead it, featuring one of the candidates for DNC leadership. Plus, Donald Trump has made numerous MAGA promises, many of which he claims will be fulfilled on day one of a second presidency. We will go through the list so you can keep track.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Tonight on the readout, an exclusive new interview, our colleague Lawrence O'Donnell just completed with President Joe Biden in his final interview from the Oval Office.

0:15.0

We'll bring you the first bite from that interview in just a moment. Also tonight with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris leaving the stage on Monday.

0:26.5

What should the future of the Democratic Party look like?

0:30.1

And who should run it?

0:31.5

One of the candidates to lead the DNC joins the table.

0:35.9

Plus, Donald Trump has made a whole lot of mega promises, including many that he says

0:42.2

will be fulfilled on day one of his second presidency.

0:47.1

We'll list them all so that you can keep score at home.

0:53.9

But we begin tonight with a stark warning from President Joe Biden.

0:58.1

Last night, in his farewell address to the nation, the president decided not to put the focus

1:03.2

on so much, you know, his administration's achievements, but rather to use the speech to warn

1:09.2

the nation about the threat of the world's wealthiest individuals having essentially unchecked power.

1:18.1

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,

1:29.3

and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead. We see the consequences all across America,

1:37.1

and we've seen it before. During the address, Google searches for the word oligarchy shot up, including people asking what the word means.

1:48.1

And if you two are curious or you're not a regular viewer of this program, rather than tell you, let me show you exactly what an oligarchy looks like.

1:56.3

It looks like not just inviting tech CEOs and billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg to Monday's inauguration, but giving them prominent seating on the dais alongside cabinet nominees, elected officials, and former presidents, including the head of TikTok.

2:14.6

Despite the fact that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have deemed China-controlled

2:18.4

TikTok a national security threat and overwhelmingly voted to ban it in the U.S.

2:23.9

It looks like giving the world's richest billionaire Elon Musk office space in the White House complex

2:29.8

with essentially unfettered access to the incoming president, despite the fact that he has billions of dollars in government contracts.

2:38.7

It looks like Kevin O'Leary, the Shark Tank multi-millionaire,

...

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