Bill Gates Navigates the DOGE Era

Elon Musk does not like Bill Gates.

He regularly posts on X about his distaste for Gates’s contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, questions Gates’s understanding of artificial intelligence and denounces Gates’s past bet that Tesla would drop in value. Yes, there have been memes.

It’s funny, because the Tesla chief used to respect the Microsoft founder enough that he signed the Giving Pledge, a Gates-run philanthropic commitment, in 2012. But nowadays, the chain saw in chief is destroying what Gates has spent the last 25 years of his life building, tearing apart much of the global health apparatus — which has relied heavily on the United States Agency for International Development — through his work at DOGE.

My colleague Stephanie Nolen and I today have an article looking at the vise that Gates finds himself in. As his work is threatened, Gates wants to speak up and defend it. But at the same time, Gates doesn’t want to draw too much attention: He and his foundation are absolutely rattled by the Trump administration, and are fearful that the president will try to revoke their tax-exempt status if they anger Trump — or Musk.

Gates is trying to deal with Musk and with Trump as best he can. And he’s trying to step in where they’re pulling back.

One interesting detail from our cutting-room floor: The Gates Foundation team that oversees the Giving Pledge has refocused its work away from issue-agnostic philanthropy toward explicitly raising money for global health programs, largely to make up for Trump’s cuts to global health funding, according to several people briefed on the matter.

Maybe Elon will throw Bill a few bucks.