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.

  • TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org
    5·
    6 hours ago

    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.

    • UpperBroccoli@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      3·
      5 hours ago

      There is no such thing as billionaire philantropy - if you examine it closely, it’s just another scam to avoid paying taxes. Bill Gates is as much a philantropist as I am a billionaire.