Bill Gates on Elon Musk's "insane shit"

Daniel Berman

Bill Gates has criticized fellow billionaire Elon Musk for his involvement in the politics of other countries, including Germany and the U.K.

“It’s really insane that he can destabilize the political situations in countries,” Gates, 69, said in an interview with The Times of London. “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."

Musk, the co-lead of a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, donated millions of dollars to helping U.S. President Donald Trump get elected.

On Saturday, Musk, 53, made a surprise virtual appearance during Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) election campaign event and spoke in support of the far-right party. The Tesla CEO told the crowd they should be “optimistic” and “excited” about Germany’s future, adding, “I hope your people unite and strongly support AfD.”

Earlier this month, Musk advised the U.K.’s right-wing Reform Party to dump its leader, Nigel Farage and called for the removal of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 

He also posted an online poll for his 210 million followers on the proposition: “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.”

Gates addressed Musk’s recent political opinions in his interview. “You want to promote the right wing but say Nigel Farage is not right wing enough… I mean, this is insane shit,” Gates told the newspaper. “You are for the AfD [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.”

Musk has been very vocal about a series of cases that rocked towns in northern England, where groups of men were tried for grooming and abusing dozens of girls. The cases have been used by far-right activists to link child abuse to immigration, and to accuse politicians of covering up the “grooming gangs” out of a fear of appearing racist.

“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?”

During his interview, Gates also shared details about a three-hour dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in December 2024, calling the encounter “pretty constructive.”

“It was quite an engaging conversation where he listened to me talk about HIV and the need to stay generous and to innovate to get a cure. I talked a lot about polio and energy and nuclear, and he wasn’t dismissive."

“Well, he is the most powerful person in the world and his decision over whether to consider changing HIV funding alone would make the trip worth it, or to encourage Pakistan and Afghanistan to take polio eradication seriously.”

Gates said that during Trump’s first term, he met with him more times than he met with Joe Biden during his time in the White House.

“I had a lot of times when I would go to the White House and they would say, ‘We think you are going to see President Biden today,’ but six times in a row it didn’t happen,” Gates said.

He said Trump “has a lot of ability to help me” and he needs to “stay close.”

“There is so much up in the air with him — is he going to deport nine million or one million? Is he going to have 60 per cent tariffs or 5 per cent? Is he going to fund infectious disease innovation or end it? I need to stay close. Whoever gets to enthuse President Trump about the right things, that is God’s work.”

Musk has not responded to Gates’ comments as of this writing.