Everyone thinks this talk will be about MS, but don’t forget, Gates’ work these days is around his foundation, and its work that Trump’s MAGA base hates. The Gates’ Foundation focuses on developing / promoting / distributing vaccines, gender equality, public education, etc.
Gates is going to try and bend Trump’s ear. Problem being, Trump’s ear consistently gets re-bent by the last thing he heard.
Remember the first admin? His Tweets made it clear he was repeating Fox News. Then someone else would come along and whisper in his ear. Flip. Flop. And everyone was surprised!
Seems few caught this, but the bleach and UV thing for fighting COVID? It was actually dumber than most thought. When he took the stage, he stopped and looked at a CDC infographic for disinfecting surfaces. He pauses, gives it a scan, gets on the stage and starts repeating it. It’s hard to find the video, almost all of them are him already at the podium.
On top of the narcissism, the man is simply stupid. He can’t take two differing opinions and evaluate them, always goes with the last thing he heard. Give me a couple of hours with him and you’ll see him blasting out liberal talking points, carefully shaded by me of course. :)
God, I remember this so clearly and it’s exactly as you described. I just can’t believe we’re doing this again. He’s so clearly, obviously, painfully stupid.
That’s why musk is constantly at ma-a-lago.
Problem being, Trump’s ear consistently gets re-bent by the last thing he heard.
Which is why the trick is to bend the ear no one else is bending. Bring up a topic no one else is taking about and that most other ear benders don’t care about.
For example Malaria control is an area the Gates Foundation donates to. Generally speaking no one “pro Malaria” and no one in the US is focused on it as a wedge issue. So you talk to Trump about Malaria for an hour and get him to donate or otherwise help the Gates Foundation. It doesn’t matter what the Foundation actually does after that. Trump gets to make a tweet about protecting the US from Malaria, sign a few bills and pretend to be a hero.
Keep in mind without Trump this all would have happened anyway. He isn’t adding any value. The money/help would have likely come anyway, this just ensures that Trump doesn’t fuck it up. Essentially the pomp is required for a Trump presidency.
As a bonus for Trump, if Malaria ever becomes a problem in the US he can blame the Gates Foundation. It will likely be his fault, but he has a scapegoat.
For example Malaria control is an area the Gates Foundation donates to. Generally speaking no one “pro Malaria” and no one in the US is focused on it as a wedge issue.
This actually is a bit of a wedge issue because of the anti-vaccine stance that many of his appointees hold. While they may not say so publicly, RFK is reflexively pro-disease.
The really sad thing is that the Gates Foundation and the GOP both have something in common. They both love private schools. The Gates foundation has made substantial investments in charter schools. If Gates and Trump sit down, I don’t think anyone on the left will be happy with any agreement that comes out of it.
Haha, that’s actually why I used the phrase “Malaria control”, which is also what the Foundation uses.
I would not use the specific word “vaccine” when talking with Trump. I don’t think Trump actually has an opinion on vaccines, but many of his supporters do.
You just phrase it as “Malaria control” and then do whatever you want.
We can actually probably watch this play out depending on the specific words Trump and RFK use in the next month or so.
Malaria control
It might appeal to Trump’s toxic masculinity and misogyny too. Stop her gallivanting around with those fit young security guards; keep her where he can see her.
Surely has nothing to do with the FTC antitrust probe into Microsoft continuing into the new administration.
Homie still has a shitload of MS stock, but he’s not running the company or on the board anymore.
A lot of his interactions with world leaders is because of the Gates Foundation these days. I can’t imagine that he’s stoked about RFK given all of the vaccine work he’s been doing.
Also, Gates is the subject of a lot of vaccine conspiracy theories that are promoted by the MAGA nuts. I imagine he wants to mitigate that by talking to, or striking a deal with, the MAGA king.
This smells exactly like one of Trump’s “successful businessman from the 80’s” power plays- someone won’t do what you want willingly, so you publicly announce they’re going to do it anyway to shame them into it so they don’t lose face. It’s not the first time he’s done this and Gates is probably one of the last very public billionaires who hasn’t fellated Trump yet.
In all seriousness, it probably doesn’t. Gates is focused on his charitable foundation and has been for a long time now. This is probably more about public health.
Birds of a feather fly with Jeffrey Epstein
First there was Apple Tim, now there’s… micro Bill?
Tim Apple*
Everyone is bending the knee because they know they’ll deport Satya Nadella as soon as they can
Let’s even see if this is real Trump lies all the time. Not like I’m a big BG fan, but I’d find it harder seeing him capitulate to Trump’s bullshit with zero gain.
Torvalds doesn’t kiss the ring.
Let’s hope this is about nuclear power. Or any green energy. Those AI centers are going burn a whole lot and we need even more power.
Fuck that. AI is already driving up electricity prices but their data centers get cheaper electricity then the rest of us. And for what? To generate marketing copies?
Let’s hope hurricane Luigi pays them a visit.
Microsoft owns Bill Gates?
Or was someone worried we would get him confused with that other well known Bill Gates.
