Featured Image Credit: Handout/Getty/ANGELA WEISS/Getty
Topics: Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Politics, Technology, Money, US News
Joe Yates
Topics: Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Politics, Technology, Money, US News
When you're the richest person on the planet you can kind of do what you want, which Elon Musk has proved since venturing into politics as Donald Trump begins his second term of presidency.
But not everyone in the 'billionaire club' is a fan of Musk's political career - one of which is Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
The Tesla CEO arguably hasn't had the best start as the leader of the newly founded Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with him recently being accused of doing a 'Nazi salute' at Trump's victory rally on inauguration day.
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And now, Gates has spoken about Musk's bold venture into the world of US politics.
"I thought the rules of the game were you picked a finite number of things to spout about that you cared for, focused on a few critical things, rather than telling people who they should vote for," Gates said during a new interview with The Times.
That's not him saying he's never had an opinion. In fact, the 69-year-old mentioned that he thought 'Brexit was a mistake' - the UK's decision to leave the European Union and become independent - 'but I wasn’t tweeting every day'.
When the tech mogul was asked whether he wished he had gotten involved in politics more in the way that the SpaceX owner has, he sternly replied: "Not at all."
Explaining how he and Musk are the complete opposite of each other - with Gates concentrating his efforts solely on offering world aid, while Musk focuses on ventures like buying social media platforms and beginning a political career - he said: "I’m ultra-different."
"It’s really insane that he can destabilise the political situations in countries," he added.
"I think in the US foreigners aren’t allowed to give money; other countries maybe should adopt safeguards to make sure super-rich foreigners aren’t distorting their elections.
"It’s difficult to understand why someone who has a car factory in both China and in Germany, whose rocket business is ultra-dependent on relationships with sovereign nations and who is busy cutting $2 trillion in US government expenses and running five companies, is obsessing about this grooming story in the UK. I’m like, what?"
He went on to explain how Musk has been calling one of the most right wing politicians in the UK, Nigel Farage, as being 'not right wing enough'.
"I mean, this is insane s**t. You are for the AfD," he added, speaking of the far-right political movement in Germany. "We can all overreach… If someone is super-smart, and he is, they should think how they can help out. But this is populist stirring.”
Speaking to the UK publication, Gates explained how he now worries about politics as much as another pandemic.
He continued: "The whole political situation with polarisation is very dangerous. Certainly, if you think through my lens of ‘Let’s help the poor countries,’ there is a lot going on.
“The Labour government came in [in the UK] and is less generous on aid than the Tories who came before it. Our problem is an ageing society, tight budgets and a right wing inward turning, with hatred of all foreigners, and hence refusing aid to them even if they’re not in your own country.
"We’re in a challenging situation."