Bill Gates believes that Elon Musk is responsible for the preventable deaths of the world’s poorest children. He believes the deaths can be directly linked to Musk’s cuts to the U.S. foreign aid budget. Back in February, Trump and his administration launched sweeping cuts to foreign aid through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk was put in charge of. When the dismantling began, Musk posted to his social media site X, “USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die.”
Bill Gates Calls Out Elon Musk
“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates wrote on Thursday. The Trump administration eliminated more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) overseas aid contracts and cut $60 billion in overall U.S. aid around the world. Trump officials also eliminated 1,600 USAID jobs in the U.S. and overseas, and 4,700 workers were put on leave.
4,800 Children’s Deaths
Owing to the USAID cuts, “the number of deaths will start going up for the first time … it’s going to be millions more deaths because of the resources,” Gates said. It is believed that discontinuing and freezing funds to the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) since January 24 is directly responsible for the death of over 4,800 children.
Memos from USAID estimate that an additional 200,000 people will be paralyzed by polio yearly. It added that one million children would go untreated for severe malnutrition due to the cuts. These cuts could potentially result in the deaths of millions of poor children across the globe.
Gates Calls It a Global Emergency
“When Elon went into government, if his thing really was about efficiency or using AI, you know, of course, we need to make the government more efficient. If that’s what it had been, then it’s a praiseworthy thing to put his time and expertise into. The fact that it turned into slashing these people, I didn’t expect that, and some of that should be put back in place,” Bill Gates said.
Bill Gates went on to add that the world is in a “global health emergency” because of spending cuts to health programs by the US and European governments. Bill Gates said that Musk’s actions as a part of the Trump administration were making things far worse.
Musk’s False Claims
“I think if you show up and say, in two months, you can cut $2 trillion out of a $7 trillion budget, you’re not going to succeed,” Gates said. “So, you go for the softest things and things that are overseas that you can mischaracterize… people that he hasn’t spent any time with.”
Bill Gates went on to criticize Musk’s false claims back in February that the U.S. government had wasted $50 billion on condoms in Gaza. Musk later admitted that his comments were incorrect. Musk also called USAID workers “radical lunatics,” and Gates says they are “heroes.
“Other than the military, these are about as honorable, and, you know, they’re the face of America to people who we want to be alive with us, and we want their health systems to be tracking potential pandemics,” Gates said. “Demonizing them is deeply unfair.”
Gates Foundation
Since its founding in 2000, the Gates Foundation has spent over $100 billion in 2 partnerships with government agencies and other nonprofits globally. The money was invested to tackle mounting health challenges. His foundation has developed new vaccines and created diagnostic tools to fight diseases all around the world.
Gates Foundation Closing 2045
Bill Gates also announced on Thursday that the Gates Foundation will shut down in 2045. He shared that the foundation would speed up its charitable efforts and spend over $200 billion on development, education, and global health over the next two decades.
