One of America’s highest honours was bestowed on a sporting megastar. He didn’t show up

Washington: With 16 days left in a political career that has spanned a half-century, US President Joe Biden on Saturday conferred one of the nation’s highest honours on core members of the political, financial and celebrity establishment of which he has long been a part.

President-elect Donald Trump will replace Biden on January 20, determined to continue his assault on what he has long referred to as “the swamp”. In 2016, Trump vowed to wage war against establishment members in both parties who he said had “reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost”.

US President Joe Biden awards former NBA player Earvin “Magic” Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the East Room of the White House.Credit: Getty Images

But on Saturday (Sunday AEDT), Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 18 people, including some of the brightest lights of the old guard that Trump wants to tear down. In doing so, the 82-year-old president is sending an unmistakable message of support for a democratic order that he has said is threatened by Trump’s re-election.

“Let’s remember, our sacred effort continues, and to keep going, as my mother would say, we have to keep the faith,” he told the crowd in the East Room of the White House at the end of the ceremony.

President Joe Biden presents the medal to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.Credit: AP

Among those receiving the award were Hillary Clinton, the former first lady, senator and secretary of state whom Trump threatened to jail and who received a standing ovation at the award ceremony; Robert F. Kennedy, the assassinated senator whose son has embraced Trump; and George Romney, the late father of former senator Mitt Romney (Republican-Utah), who repeatedly rejected Trump’s actions and philosophy. The younger Romney accepted the award. Kennedy’s medal was accepted by his daughter, Kathleen.

As many presidents have done with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Biden also honoured some of his party’s most prolific fundraisers, including the man who looms largest of all among Democratic donors – George Soros, a liberal activist billionaire whom Republicans have cast as the party’s evil puppet master.

They also included the media executive and cultural figure Anna Wintour, who put first lady Jill Biden on the cover of Vogue twice in the past four years while spurning Melania Trump during her husband’s presidency. Wintour is one of the leading fundraisers in the fashion industry, having hosted events for Biden’s re-election campaign in London and Paris last year.

Joe Biden with media executive and cultural figure Anna Wintour, who put first lady Jill Biden on the cover of Vogue.Credit: Bloomberg

Biden also recognised artists, musicians, sports figures, philanthropists and others who have contributed to society, including singer Bono, actor Michael J. Fox, basketball legend Magic Johnson and investor David M. Rubenstein.

The 19th person picked to receive the award – soccer megastar Lionel Messi – did not attend the ceremony or send a representative to accept on his behalf because of a scheduling conflict, according to the White House.

Soccer megastar Lionel Messi was a no-show due to a scheduling clash. Credit: AP

“As cultural icons, dignified statesmen, humanitarians, rock stars, sports stars, you feed the hungry, you give hope to those that are hurting, and you craft the signs and sounds of our movements and our memories,” Biden said.

All modern presidents have awarded the medal to those whom they found deserving, often as they are leaving the political scene, and sometimes with an ideological tilt. It is seen by historians as a final use of the presidential megaphone to say to Americans: this is whom we should admire and emulate.

After Trump won in 2016, president Barack Obama gave the medal to NBA star Michael Jordan, actors Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro, and others. Earlier, Obama had given the award to Biden, who had served as his vice president.

Actor Michael J. Fox receives his award. Credit: AP

Four years later, as Trump was leaving office, he gave the medal to two professional golfers, an Olympic athlete, and representatives Devin Nunes of California and Jim Jordan of Ohio, two of his fiercest Republican loyalists in Congress.

However, Biden’s use of the presidential prerogative appeared to be even more pointed than that of some of his predecessors.

His decision to give the medal posthumously to Kennedy could be read as a rebuke to Kennedy’s son, a member of perhaps the country’s most famous Democratic family. The decision by Robert F. Kennedy Jr to endorse Trump during the campaign – despite denunciations from most of his relatives – led to Trump choosing him to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

The White House noted that the elder Romney, a Republican, had been chair and president of American Motors Corp and later served as governor of Michigan and secretary of housing and urban development. The younger Romney is the only Republican to vote twice to convict Trump after his two impeachments.

The award for the elder Romney echoes Biden’s decision this week to award the Presidential Citizens Medal, one of the nation’s highest civilian honours, to Liz Cheney (Republican-Wyoming), who led the effort to hold Trump accountable for his actions during the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Both awards from a Democratic president to prominent Republicans offered to give Biden the kind of public relations jolt that has mostly been reserved for Trump since the election.

The same could not be said for Soros. By awarding him the medal, Biden is acknowledging the investor and philanthropist’s importance to the Democratic Party. That is something that many members of Biden’s party have been wary of doing, fearing that Trump and other Republicans would seize on it as evidence of the conspiratorial control they say he has.

But Biden seems willing to ignore that concern. After weeks in which Trump has showcased Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, as a member of his inner circle, Biden appeared to want to say: we have our billionaires, too.

Joe Biden (right) and Alex Soros, son of award recipient George Soros, billionaire and founder of Soros Fund Management, with the Medal of Freedom.Credit: Bloomberg

Soros has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on progressive politics since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which unleashed a torrent of money into politics from businesses and the wealthy people who run them.

Crucially, Soros and his family stood by Biden immediately after the president’s disastrous debate performance last year.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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