Bill Gates has hit out at fellow billionaire Elon Musk and denounced his political activities as “insane s***.”
The Microsoft CEO and philanthropist, who went to Mar-a-Lago last month for a three-hour dinner with President Donald Trump, accused Musk of “populist stirring.”
“It’s really insane that he can destabilize the political situations in countries,” Gates said in an interview with the Times of London. “I think in the U.S. foreigners aren’t allowed to give money; other countries maybe should adopt safeguards to make sure super-rich foreigners aren’t distorting their elections.”
Gates expressed bewilderment over Musk’s meddling in British politics, including how the SpaceX CEO has become engrossed with child grooming in the U.K.
“It’s difficult to understand why someone who has a car factory in both China and in Germany, whose rocket business is ultra-dependent on relationships with sovereign nations and who is busy cutting $2 trillion in U.S. government expenses and running five companies, is obsessing about this grooming story in the U.K. I’m like, what?” Gates told the newspaper.
Musk has also trashed Nigel Farage, leader of Britain’s Reform party and an ally of Trump’s. “You want to promote the right wing but say Nigel Farage is not right wing enough… I mean, this is insane s***,” Gates said. “You are for the AfD [in Germany].”
Gates, who was speaking to promote his new memoir Source Code, suggested that it was possible for those in their field to “overreach,” and Musk should think about how he “can help out” instead of “populist stirring.”
He also revealed what happened when he had dinner with Trump on December 27 at Mar-a-Lago. “It was quite an engaging conversation where he listened to me talk about HIV and the need to stay generous and to innovate to get a cure.”
“I talked a lot about polio and energy and nuclear, and he wasn’t dismissive,” Gates told the newspaper, observing that the president is “feeling more comfortable and vindicated than at any time in his life.”
In another interview with the Wall Street Journal, Gates said that he backed the idea of reducing costs but cautioned against getting rid of entire groups, as Musk’s DOGE has pledged.
“I think the idea that looking at government expenditures on a sort of zero-based budgeting approach could be a valuable thing,” he said. “I’m amongst the people who think the deficit needs to be brought down because otherwise, it will create a financial problem for us.”
“I do worry a little bit that if you say, ‘Hey, let’s completely get rid of things, some of the things that have long-term benefits,” he added. “I obviously believe in HIV medicines, where the U.S. is keeping tens of millions of people alive. And if you cut those off, not only would they die when we have a cure on its way, but you’d have negative feelings … in parts of Africa.”
