Melinda French Gates says Elon Musk should 'actually see what's going on in the world' before making decisions on US foreign aid
French Gates was speaking to Fortune in an interview published Thursday when she was asked about Musk. Musk's cost-cutting outfit, the Department of Government Efficiency, has laid off thousands of foreign workers and shuttered foreign aid programs.
"I would say, before you move on an action, go out and actually see what's going on in the world today," French Gates said of Musk. "Go travel. Then decide what you're going to do."
"Yes, people in our own country are hurting. We need to do things about that. But people are really hurting around the world, and I don't think we want more poverty and more disease when we have a program that's working," French Gates added.
Musk took aim at the US Agency for International Development, a humanitarian aid agency, shortly after President Donald Trump took office in January. USAID spent nearly $32.5 billion in fiscal year 2024, providing aid to countries such as Ukraine, Jordan, and Ethiopia.
"We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could gone to some great parties. Did that instead," Musk wrote in an X post on February 3, the same day USAID shut down its headquarters.
Then, on February 4, USAID said nearly all its staff would be placed on administrative leave on February 7. In March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said 83% of USAID's programs would be canceled, and the State Department would absorb the agency.
French Gates has on several occasions voiced her disagreements with Musk, who previously criticized her for her philanthropy.
In June, Musk said it " might be the downfall of Western civilization" after French Gates endorsed President Joe Biden's reelection campaign. Musk had been responding to an X post by the Babylon Bee staffer Ashley St. Clair about French Gates' endorsement.
"Many super villain arcs being pursued under the guise of philanthropy," St. Clair wrote in a separate X post.
"Yeah," Musk wrote in response.
In an interview with The New York Times published in July, French Gates said she thought Musk's criticism of her political activism was " silly." She added that while Musk's comments did not upset her, she was puzzled at how tech CEOs like him liked to comment on topics they had no expertise in.
"I mean, here's one thing that always has confounded me about society: I've just watched over the years tech leaders interviewed about their parenting style, a male who has spent, you know, 60 hours at his company that week, and I'm sure he's a fantastic C.E.O. and has done a great job — maybe or maybe not — in their company," French Gates said.
"But then they get asked about parenting, and they spew all this stuff, and you think, something doesn't add up here. So I just — some of these comments to me are just kind of silly," she added.
French Gates' charity work goes back decades. In 2000, she cofounded the Gates Foundation with her now ex-husband, Bill Gates. The couple had been married for 27 years when they got divorced in 2021.
French Gates announced her departure from the Gates Foundation in May 2024. Her charity work is now mainly led by Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company she started in 2015.
In an op-ed written for the Times in May 2024, French Gates said she would give $1 billion over the next two years to causes related to women and families worldwide, as well as for reproductive rights in the US.
"Many years ago, I received this piece of advice: 'Set your own agenda, or someone else will set it for you.' I've carried those words with me ever since," she wrote.
Last month, French Gates appeared on business professor and author Scott Galloway's podcast, where she was asked about the criticism she gets from tech bros regarding her philanthropy. French Gates told Galloway that she chooses to ignore those attacks and focus on her charity work.
"I think when you're not doing the work and you're not in the arena, it's easier to criticize others and to project onto others or make them look bad because you don't want to go do that work," French Gates said.
"That's up to them. If that's how they want to act? Fine, but it doesn't bother me. My work goes ahead," she added.
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