1w ago

Bill Gates defends USAID’s work after meeting with Trump and White House chief of staff

www.nbcnews.com Bill Gates defends USAID’s work after meeting with Trump and White House chief of staff

The Microsoft co-founder and billionaire said he had a “brief meeting” with President Donald Trump and a “long meeting” with chief of staff Susie Wiles.

Summary

Bill Gates met with Trump and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles to advocate for continuing USAID’s foreign aid programs.

The Trump administration has frozen them amid scrutiny from Elon Musk.

Gates praised USAID as the world’s best development agency and warned its dismantling would be difficult to reverse.

While Trump and Wiles’ response was unclear, Gates noted he had not spoken with Musk, who has called USAID a "criminal organization" and pushed for deep federal workforce cuts.

31 comments

Well they hate Gates as much as they hate Soros so i’m betting this will do less than fuck all.
- I think it's trump's followers that hate gates, trump likes his money.
  
  My hate goes back to the 90s. I don't know, maybe he actually feels bad about what he was back then and that's the reason for the philanthropy, but he's still got that stigma for me. I still see "embrace, extend, extinguish" written across his face. He's the reason the web stagnated for years when we were all stuck using IE. He's the reason why Linux isn't offered as an OEM OS. And many more.

Gates had an interview with some news network about meeting with Trump a few days after his inauguration. Of course he was kissing ass, saying it was a great conversation, that Trump was deeply engaged and wanted to help with HIV/AIDS research.
Less than 2 weeks later Trump killed aid for foreign countries and killed USAID. Wonder if Gates is still willing to bend the knee and kiss ass.
coward
- He went to the White House to try and alter the decision. It might be futile but at least he is trying. I hope when the inevitable “lol no” comes from the Trump admin that he raises a stink at that point but it’s ok to try as a first step.
- I was kind of annoyed with all the Gate praise after this article came out. Sure he decried Mr Sieg Heil, but he also said this:
  “In some ways he is feeling more comfortable and vindicated than at any time in his life, so he is confident,” Gates said, explaining that he did not feel any reluctance to visit the populist rightwing president. “Well, he is the most powerful person in the world and his decision over whether to consider changing HIV funding alone would make the trip worth it, or to encourage Pakistan and Afghanistan to take polio eradication seriously.”
  Gates added that he met Trump more frequently during his first term as president than he did Joe Biden during his Oval Office tenure. He said: “I had a lot of times when I would go to the White House and they would say, ‘We think you are going to see President Biden today,’ but six times in a row it didn’t happen,” adding that he was instead invited to meet the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, or other staff.
  Trump, Gates said, “has a lot of ability to help me … Is he going to fund infectious disease innovation or end it? I need to stay close. Whoever gets to enthuse President Trump about the right things, that is God’s work.”

“If you're born poor, it is not your mistake, but if you die poor, it is your mistake.”
-Bill Gates

Just one Great Man to another. You see, we "normals" need to just shut up and get out of the way of these great men. They'll figure out what's best for us all, like a caring father. They are superior to us, after all. They're like Mr. Incredible, and we're just some nameless civilian in need of rescue.
/s

Gates is moving up my list. Please do more of this
- Make no mistake, he does it because it is good business^[Because it opens peoples and countries up for economic cooperation, resource deals etc.], not because Gates is a humanitarian.
  
  Are you sure that's the sole reason?
  
  He has been at the forefront of the battle against Malaria and HIV for decades. Killing this program is a big deal for him.

We dont want "development"
We want "reparations"

"Billionaire who profits off of poor people defends org that profits off of poor people"

The guy who puts billions of dollars into privatizing schools?
Why don't they trot out Dick Cheney to endorse USAID?
- Privatizing schools? The Gates foundation is one of the largest contributor to public schools. My wife is an elementary teacher and they get a ton of donations for supplies to programs. I mean, theres no good billionaire but its nice that he developed a concious at some point.
  
  It mostly goes to charter schools.
  https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-plot-against-public-education-111630/
  https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/bill-gates-plans-to-invest-in-charter-schools-big-weak-spot-special-education/2017/10
- Lol seriously. Why are we treating these billionaires like elected officials and diplomats? American oligarchy full mask off. Not that most americans will acknowledge it for some weird reason.
- Not sure where you are getting that. He did spend a couple billion trying to push for smaller schools back in the 2000s that failed but that went to public schools.
  
  The second article breaks down some other spending later on.
- Walt Disney's frozen head will be the new head diplomat to Europe.
  
  Sorry, Juan Guaido already declared himself interim head diplomat for Europe. The best development agency in the world has given him 98 million to help.

31 comments