Elon Musk fires back at Bill Gates over DOGE cuts – Business News
Elon Musk is lashing out at Bill Gates after the Microsoft co-founder accused him of endangering the lives of weak youngsters worldwide by pushing to dismantle the US overseas help equipment.
“Who does Bill Gates think he is to make comments about the welfare of children?” Musk stated during an interview on Tuesday at the Bloomberg Qatar Economic Forum, responding to Gates’ assertion that Musk’s insurance policies have been harming the world’s most impoverished communities.
Musk, who pledged to proceed main Tesla as its CEO for at least the subsequent 5 years, added: “Show us any evidence whatsoever that that is true. It’s false.”
Elon Musk (pictured proper) is lashing out at Bill Gates after the Microsoft co-founder accused him of endangering the lives of weak youngsters worldwide. Getty Images
The Post has sought remark from Gates and Musk.
Musk’s assault towards Gates got here after the software program mogul gave a blistering interview to the Financial Times during which he accused the Tesla CEO and DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) chief of recklessly gutting US overseas help applications beneath President Trump’s directive.
“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates stated, pointing to cuts in funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), together with applications that supplied HIV-prevention remedy to moms in Mozambique.
“I’d love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money.”
Musk was responding to Gates’ current feedback criticizing the Tesla mogul for cuts made to USAID by DOGE. Bill Gates is pictured above. REUTERS
Gates stated the choice to slash USAID funding stemmed from conspiracy theories reportedly circulated in Musk’s internal circle — particularly, that US overseas help was getting used to ship condoms to Hamas in Gaza.
In February, Musk’s company declared that it was “time for [USAID] to die,” and defunded quite a few applications. He later brandished a chainsaw onstage alongside Argentine President Javier Milei during the Conservative Political Action Conference in a theatrical celebration of funds cuts.
In defending the cuts, a White House spokesperson described Musk as “a patriot working to fulfill President Trump’s mission to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Gates, nevertheless, stated the insurance policies had “real-world consequences,” noting that life-saving vaccines have been expiring in warehouses because of lack of distribution funding.
The escalating feud between Musk and Gates is the newest flare-up in a years-long conflict between the 2 tech titans.
Musk was given a chainsaw as a reward by Argentine President Javier Millei during his look at CPAC in February. ZUMAPRESS.com
Their disputes have ranged from public health coverage and philanthropy to finance — together with a 2022 episode during which Musk publicly mocked Gates after studying the Microsoft founder had shorted Tesla stock.
The escalating feud between Musk and Gates is the newest flare-up in a years-long conflict between the 2 tech titans.
Their public tensions date back to at least 2020, when Gates publicly solid doubt on the viability of electric long-haul vans — just for Musk to fire back on Twitter (now X), calling Gates “underwhelming” and posting memes mocking his look.
A malnourished little one reacts, whereas a healthcare employee takes his vitals, following the help cut by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), at Tudun Gambo Primary Health Care Center in Nigeria on May 8. REUTERS
When Gates admitted to shorting Tesla stock regardless of professing help for climate initiatives, Musk accused him of hypocrisy.
“He had a big short position against Tesla, which is the company doing the most to solve climate change,” Musk tweeted in 2022. “This is not cool.”
Musk additionally as soon as known as Gates “a knucklehead” during a Clubhouse chat and mocked his information of electric automobiles, whereas Gates has criticized Musk for downplaying COVID-19 and spreading misinformation during the pandemic.
Gates notably warned that Musk ought to keep in his lane when it got here to public health, saying, “He’s not much involved in vaccines.”
