Gates Calls Out Musk, Pledges $200B to Charity

St. Croix Times Staff

Microsoft co-Founder Bill Gates recently accused DOGE czar Elon Musk of “killing the world’s poorest children” by pushing to dismantle the US foreign aid infrastructure. 

The Billionaire philanthropist told the Financial Times that SpaceX Chief Musk’s support for eliminating funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was based on ignorance and had real-world consequences. 

“The picture of the world’s richest man killing the world’s poorest children is not a pretty one,” said Mr. Gates. He specifically pointed to Mr. Musk’s role in cutting funding to a hospital in Mozambique that helps prevent mothers with HIV from transmitting the virus to their babies. The program was defunded under the mistaken belief - reportedly spread within Musk’s orbit - that the US was supplying condoms to Hamas in Gaza.

“I’d love for him to go in and meet the children that have now been infected with HIV because he cut that money,” Mr. Gates said.

In February 2025, the Musk-led DODGE effectively shut down USAID, declaring that it was “time to die.”

According to Mr. Gates, the cuts have already led to life saving vaccines and medications being left to expire in warehouses and are increasing the risk of outbreaks of diseases such as HIV, measles and polio.  

The criticism came as Mr. Gates unveiled a plan to accelerate the Gates Foundation work over the next two decades, pledging his entire fortune before shutting down the philanthropic organization in 2045. He expects the Foundation to allocate over $200 billion during that time period, doubling what it spent in its first 25 years. 

“It gives us clarity,” Mr. Gates said. “We’ll have a lot more money because we’re spending down over the 20 years, as opposed to making an effort to be a perpetual Foundation.”

Mr. Gates said the urgency of the plan was partly driven by Musk’s role in gutting US development aid.

Mr. Musk, who called USAID “a criminal organization,” had “no understanding of what the agency did or how it operated,” Mr. Gates said.

The two Tech Titans have clashed for years over the role of philanthropy. The Tesla Boss once told the Billionaire that charitable giving was “Bullshit!” and insisted that commercial ventures like Tesla offered more effective solutions to global problems. 

Their relationship soured further in 2022 after Mr. Gates shorted Tesla stock. Mr. Musk retaliated by posting a mocking photo of Gates on Twitter (now X) with an X-rated comment.

The philanthropist has taken a more cautious tone with President Trump with the hope that some funding could be restored.

Nonetheless, he has warned that Trump’s return could threaten the Gates Foundation’s tax exempt status and criticized his appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health Secretary. 

“Kennedy has attacked vaccines, and specifically my role…with a lot of falsehoods,” Mr. Gates stated.