On December 30, Elon Musk once again labeled Bill Gates a “liar.”
This time, Musk was replying to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by a user who dismissed as absurd the claim that cuts to U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding have led to deaths—a warning previously issued by the Microsoft co-founder. The X user wrote: “Anyone who believes the nonsense that ‘USAID budget cuts are causing deaths’ is too stupid to think rationally. But here’s an obvious question: if it’s really true, why don’t those left-wing billionaires fill the funding gap themselves? Why should American working-class taxpayers bear the moral obligation to fund population growth in Africa?”
Musk replied to the post, calling the claim “completely false.” He stated: “Gates has been spreading this lie despite his NGO holding over $80 billion (approximately ￥561.3 billion RMB at current exchange rates)—more than enough to easily save those so-called ‘endangered lives.’”
Musk further questioned, “Why doesn’t he just do it himself?” and added, “Bill Gates is a liar—and always has been.”
In May, Gates criticized Musk for cutting foreign aid, saying such actions would lead to increased cases of measles, HIV/AIDS, polio, and other diseases—effectively taking the lives of the world’s poorest children.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Gates said, “It’s truly grotesque to see the world’s richest man taking the lives of the world’s poorest children.” At the time, Musk was heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a task force established under the Trump administration aimed at slashing federal spending. In February, the department officially shut down USAID, labeling it a “criminal organization” and declaring it “long overdue for termination.”
In the same Financial Times interview, Gates also alleged that Musk had canceled funding for several hospitals in Gaza Province, Mozambique, which had been used to prevent HIV transmission. “I’d like him to go there and look into the eyes of the children who contracted HIV because he cut their funding,” Gates said.
Reacting to a viral clip of that interview, Musk immediately posted on X, calling Gates “a massive liar.” In another post, the world’s richest man wrote: “The real reason Bill Gates is upset is that his organizations can no longer get their hands on billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer money.”
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