Did President Joe Biden, George Soros and former President Barack Obama talk about fulfilling the conspiracy theory of tyrannically taking over the world, otherwise known as the New World Order? No, that's not true: The quotes are legitimate, but they are used out of context.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post on April 27, 2022. However, its origin seems to be TikTok, as the TikTok logo can be seen on the side of the screen. Titled "THE NEW WORLD ORDER 'GREAT RESET,'" the caption reads:
It's going down. Prepare Prepare PREPARE
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
The New World Order is the conspiracy theory that global elites want to create a one world government. The Anti-Defamation League describes it as: "A term used to refer to a right-wing conspiracy theory that became popular among anti-government extremists from the 1990s onwards. 'New World Order' conspiracists believe that a tyrannical, socialist 'one-world' conspiracy has already taken over most of the planet and schemes to eliminate the last bastion of freedom, the United States, with the help of collaborators within the government."
The video clips in the Facebook post are used out of context.
Biden: "I'm gonna tell it to you straight. I'm gonna tell you the truth. Our darkest days are ahead of us, not behind us."
That clip comes from December 2020. At that time, Biden was the president-elect. While giving a speech, he said the battle the United States was facing with the COVID-19 pandemic was "ahead of us, not behind us." The full quote, per CNN, is "One thing I promise you about my leadership during this crisis: I'm going to tell it to you straight. I'm going to tell you the truth. And here's the simple truth: Our darkest days in the battle against Covid are ahead of us, not behind us."
Biden: "Now is the time when things are shifting. There's gonna be a new world order out there."
President Biden's "new world order" comment was in reference to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In a speech given at the Business Roundtable's meeting in March 2022 (White House transcript here), Biden uses the phrase "new world order." Professor Brian Levin, the director for the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, emailed us on May 11, 2022, about the meaning of the phrase:
New World Order has been an alternative catch phrase for various types of conspiracists since it was used by President George Bush regarding an aspirational post-Soviet international diplomatic consensus respecting aggression ... President Biden brought the term up at a business roundtable address in March 2022 while discussing the opportunity of the United States, in the aftermath of the tragedy of the pandemic to lead the free world in mitigating loss of lives.
Biden: "Clap for that, you stupid bastards."
The sentence is from a March 2016 speech. Biden was Obama's vice president and was speaking to American troops in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates at the Al Dhafra Air Base. The quote started to circulate around right-wing circles when Biden ran for president. Biden's presidential campaign spokesperson, Andrew Bates, told The Daily Beast that Biden called them that in jest:
Vice President Biden was jokingly encouraging the audience to clap for an airwoman on the stage, and a number of service members can be seen laughing and smiling at the comment. Seconds before, he praised them for 'the incredible sacrifices [they] make for our country.'
Soros: "This would be the time because you really need a world order, financial world order."
George Soros, a wealthy Hungarian-born American financier, is one of the wealthiest men in the world, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. He is also known for being the target of a lot of conspiracy theories surrounding a global takeover. Soros said the above quote in an October 2009 interview with Financial Times. The full quote is, "No, I think this would be the time, because you really need to bring China into the creation of a new world order, financial world order."
Obama: "This alternative vision argues that ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs."
Then-President Obama said this in a speech in March 2014 while traveling with European Union and NATO allies. His full quote is, "This alternative vision argues that ordinary men and women are too small-minded to govern their own affairs, that order and progress can only come when individuals surrender their rights to an all-powerful sovereign." He was contrasting that version of ruling, common in Russia, with the ideology of "conscience and free will" that began in Europe. Obama added that it is a European belief that power comes from the governed. Here is the full video, with the transcript below, of his speech.
Lead Stories has debunking numerous other claims about the New World Order conspiracy that you can see here.
