"The richest man in the world has been linked to the deaths of the poorest children in the world," Bill Gates criticized.
In an interview with the New York Times (NYT), Microsoft founder Bill Gates harshly criticized Elon Musk's role in the US cutting foreign aid, stating that it was 'shocking' and led to the deaths of many children.
Specifically, Elon Musk, in his role as head of the government efficiency department (DOGE), cutting USAID projects, even moving towards closing the agency, has been heavily criticized by Bill Gates.
"The cuts from USAID are astonishing. I thought there would be a 20 percent cut. Instead, they cut as much as 80 percent. And yes, I did not expect that," Bill Gates responded to NYT.
"He (Elon Musk) is the one who cut the USAID budget. He has thrown it into the wood chipper... The richest man in the world has been linked to the deaths of the poorest children in the world," the Microsoft founder continued to criticize.
Even billionaire Bill Gates mentioned that many people mistakenly believe the US sends condoms to Gaza through foreign aid and criticized USAID projects. In fact, this is a project where the US provides contraceptives to a province in Mozambique in Africa.
"They cut funding for 'Gaza Province' in Mozambique. In fact, this is money for purchasing contraceptives so that mothers infected with HIV do not transmit it to their children. But those who implemented this cut are completely ignorant geographically; they think it is Gaza and condoms. Do they meet with the children infected with HIV and explain about the reduced aid? Probably not," Bill Gates expressed his outrage.
The Microsoft founder stated that the world has successfully reduced the number of children dying annually from 10 million to 5 million over 25 years and could definitely halve that number again with cooperation from countries.
Let it be noted that the Gates Foundation has invested heavily in public health initiatives worldwide, often focusing on diseases in children.
Therefore, it is no surprise that Bill Gates criticized the DOGE Department's budget cuts and the move towards closing USAID.
This is not the first time Bill Gates and Elon Musk have criticized each other.
Previously, Bill Gates had bet that Tesla's stock price would fall. Immediately, Elon Musk angrily posted an unflattering photo of Gates on Twitter-X with critical remarks.
"When hearing that I shorted Tesla's stock, Elon Musk behaved extremely poorly towards me. However, Elon Musk behaves rudely towards a lot of people, so you can't take it personally," Bill Gates told Elon Musk's biographer, Walter Isaacson.
Similarly, the Microsoft founder has argued that Elon Musk has destabilized the politics of foreign countries by supporting right-wing agendas in the UK and Germany. Bill Gates also stated that although he believes Tesla has a positive impact on the environment, he hopes Musk will speak out more about the climate crisis.
In contrast, the world's richest billionaire Elon Musk mocked Bill Gates for having 'limited understanding' of artificial intelligence.
In contrast, the world's richest billionaire Elon Musk mocked Bill Gates for having 'limited understanding' of artificial intelligence.
Throughout his career, Elon Musk has shown a penchant for revenge with a long list of individuals that this billionaire has sued in court as well as criticized on Twitter-X with 200 million followers.
"Sometimes I think my enemies list is too short. There are a large number of enemies on my list, even though I don't want to add names to this list, but there is no choice," Elon Musk publicly posted on Twitter-X.
Currently, neither Elon Musk, the DOGE Department, nor Tesla has made any comments.
*Source: BI
