Billionaire philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, recently reflected on a dinner he attended with President-elect Trump in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Gates expressed his impression of the former president, stating, “I had the opportunity, approximately two weeks ago, to engage in an extensive and quite intriguing dinner with him.”
This discussion was attended by Susie Wiles, the incoming White House chief of staff, and focused primarily on innovations in the global health sector.
Gates noted that Trump appeared to become “pretty excited” as they addressed potential advancements in the development of cures for HIV and the mitigation of polio.
“He, during the COVID-19 pandemic, expedited vaccine innovation,” Gates commented, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
“I inquired whether similar initiatives could be implemented in this context, and I believe we both felt a sense of enthusiasm regarding that prospect.”
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, of which Gates is a significant leader, has notable initiatives that target both of these health challenges.
Gates remarked on Trump’s interest in determining how he might enhance the opportunity for the achievement of remarkable milestones in the next four years, particularly concerning the potential eradication of polio.
According to the NYP, The Microsoft co-founder, 69, said much of their “wide-ranging” dinner table chat focused on global health challenges.
“I felt like he was energized and looking forward to helping to drive innovation,” the tech titan said of Trump, 78. “I was frankly impressed with how well he showed a lot of interest in the issues I brought up.”
They were joined by incoming White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and one of Gates’ staffers.
“The four of us sat there, and it was quite wide-ranging,” Gates said of the dinner.
“I spoke a lot about HIV and that [The Gates] Foundation is literally working on a cure for that. We’re at an early stage, and so he in the COVID days, accelerated the vaccine innovation,” he said.
“So I was asking him if maybe the same kind of thing could be done here. And we both got, I think, pretty excited about that,” Gates told WSJ’s Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker.
“We talked about polio where we’re very close to getting that done, but if you stop, it’ll spread back,” he continued.
“And he was fascinated to hear what he could do to maximize the chance that during the next four years that incredible milestone will be achieved.”
