Elon Musk fires back at Bill Gates over false claims DOGE cuts to USAID are endangering kids: Who does he think he is?
Elon Musk is lashing out at Bill Gates after the Microsoft co-founder accused him of endangering the lives of vulnerable children worldwide by pushing to dismantle the US foreign aid apparatus.“Who does Bill Gates think he is to make comments about the welfare of children?” Musk said during an interview on Tuesday at the Bloomberg Qatar Economic Forum, responding to Gates’ assertion that Musk’s policies were harming the world’s most impoverished communities.Musk, who pledged to continue leading Tesla as its CEO for at least the next five years, added: “Show us any evidence whatsoever that that is true.It’s false.”The Post has sought comment from Gates and Musk.Musk’s attack against Gates came after the software mogul gave a blistering interview to the Financial Times in which he accused the Tesla CEO and DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) chief of recklessly gutting US foreign aid programs under President Trump’s directive.“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” Gates said, pointing to cuts in funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), including programs that provided HIV-prevention medication to mothers 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.”Gates said the decision to slash USAID funding stemmed from conspiracy theories reportedly circulated in Musk’s inner circle — specifically, that US foreign aid was being used to send condoms to Hamas in Gaza.In February, Musk’s agency declared that it was “time for [USAID] to die,” and defunded numerous programs.
He later brandished a chainsaw onstage alongside Argentine President Javier Milei during the Conservative Political Action Conference in a theatrical celebration of budget cuts.In defending the cuts, a White House spokesperson described Musk as “a patriot working to fulfill President Trump’s missi...