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.

  • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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    23 minutes ago

    “If you’re born poor, it is not your mistake, but if you die poor, it is your mistake.”

    -Bill Gates

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    Just one Great Man to another. You see, we “normals” need to just shut up and get out of the way of these great men. They’ll figure out what’s best for us all, like a caring father. They are superior to us, after all. They’re like Mr. Incredible, and we’re just some nameless civilian in need of rescue.

    /s

  • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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    27 minutes ago

    “Billionaire who profits off of poor people defends org that profits off of poor people”

  • niketunic@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Gates had an interview with some news network about meeting with Trump a few days after his inauguration. Of course he was kissing ass, saying it was a great conversation, that Trump was deeply engaged and wanted to help with HIV/AIDS research.

    Less than 2 weeks later Trump killed aid for foreign countries and killed USAID. Wonder if Gates is still willing to bend the knee and kiss ass.

    coward

    • errer@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      He went to the White House to try and alter the decision. It might be futile but at least he is trying. I hope when the inevitable “lol no” comes from the Trump admin that he raises a stink at that point but it’s ok to try as a first step.

  • teft@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    Well they hate Gates as much as they hate Soros so i’m betting this will do less than fuck all.

      • TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org
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        1 hour 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
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          35 minutes 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.

          • jagged_circle@feddit.nl
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            24 minutes ago

            Well, thats not true. There is such a thing as philanthropic donations. USAID makes money off poor people with loans. Thats not philanthropic.

            Most of these assholes do it for greed reasons, but there is a small slice of rich people who actually do contribute just to help important causes.

            Dont throw the baby out with the bath water

    • UpperBroccoli@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      39 minutes ago

      Make no mistake, he does it because it is good business[1], not because Gates is a humanitarian.


      1. Because it opens peoples and countries up for economic cooperation, resource deals etc. ↩︎

  • alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml
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    5 hours ago

    The guy who puts billions of dollars into privatizing schools?

    Why don’t they trot out Dick Cheney to endorse USAID?