In his final Oval Office interview with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, President Joe Biden discussed his regrets, fears, and accurate predictions. He expressed remorse for not putting his name on stimulus checks, which could have boosted his recognition during the pandemic. He raised concerns about the “high-tech industrial complex” and its impact on wealth concentration, arguing that guardrails against centralization of power are diminishing. Biden reiterated his premonitions about Putin’s intentions to invade Ukraine and reflected on the importance of press freedom. Despite some verbal slips during the conversation, he emphasized the need for accountability in governance.
President Joe Biden revealed his biggest regrets, his biggest fears and boasted his most accurate predictions in his final Oval Office interview.
Biden spoke with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell in an interview that aired Thursday night.
The 82-year-old will leave office on Monday after giving up his re-election bid due to low approval ratings, but his successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, lost to her former political rival, President-elect Donald Trump.
“Ironically, we spent too much time on policy and not enough time on politics,” Democrats admitted during the sit-in.
He regrets not putting his name on the stimulus checks sent to Americans during the early months of his term, while the country was still suffering economically from the coronavirus pandemic. repeated.
Mr. Trump put his name on the checks, but Mr. Biden did not.
“That crossed my mind,” he said.
“I’m not a very good con artist,” he continued. “So it wasn’t a stupid thing for him to do. It was very helpful to him.”
President Joe Biden revealed his biggest regrets and most fears and boasted his most accurate predictions in his final Oval Office interview
“And our ability to convince people that we’re the ones telling them this has been compromised,” Biden added.
During the course of the interview, Biden also spoke about how he expected the situation to “change dramatically,” adding that it was not about any particular leader. And it happens every five or six generations. And it is usually generated by technology. ”
In an address to the nation on Wednesday night, the president sounded the alarm about the “high-tech industrial complex,” warning that the United States is developing its own oligarchy.
He reiterated that point, saying he was concerned about “huge concentrations of wealth and power in a situation where everything is changing.”
“Look, if a decision was made that billionaires, super-rich, the richest people in the world were going to start controlling every institution from the media to the economy, who could fight back for me?” asked.
On Thursday, he said he was concerned that the “guardrails” that prevent centralization of power were coming off.
“The reason why all the safeguards are in place, to sound very cliché, is to make sure that bullies don’t take advantage of other people, so it’s basically guardrails,” he explained.
“So I think what I’m concerned about is that what’s keeping this issue on track are guardrails and a Supreme Court that’s not independent but is accountable,” he said. “We have a parliament that speaks its mind, but it is held accountable to basic standards.”
President Joe Biden (right) speaks with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell (left) in what is expected to be his final television interview from the Oval Office. The first and second parts were aired on Thursday night.
“There’s a presidency that says your authority is really limited. I mean, you’re the top dog, but you’re not, you can’t decide everything,” he continued.
And I don’t know. They just seem to be chipping away at all those elements,” Biden added.
He also told O’Donnell that he was concerned about press freedom and that four other MSNBC hosts had said they were “worried about whether they will be held accountable for telling the truth.” revealed.
“When was the last time something like that happened in America? I mean, ever since?” the president wondered.
He also boasted that he had been right all along about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions to invade Ukraine.
“We knew he would be out in about three weeks before we assembled additional troops along the border,” Biden said.
Biden said Putin has expressed his intention to occupy Ukraine because he “talks about Kyiv as the birthplace of Mother Russia.”
“So all he wants to do is re-establish the old Warsaw Pact. He wants to control it. We can’t allow that to happen,” the Democrat said.
The Warsaw Pact was signed between the Soviet Union and the Eastern European countries that are now NATO members, such as Poland.
“This guy is not a nice guy. He does — I mean, anyway,” Biden said, trying not to get too carried away.
The 82-year-old stumbled several times during the sit-in.
At one point, when talking about North Koreans being sent to fight for Russia in Ukraine, he first called them Chinese.
Another time, he started by saying Sweden when he mentioned Switzerland as the place where he met with President Putin in June 2021, eight months before Russia invaded Ukraine.
When speaking about the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack, Biden at one point referred to it as 9/11. However, Biden has also drawn comparisons between the two bloody days.
