OPINION:
Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder who recently cut his board of directors ties to his company so that he could focus in part on curing the world of disease — such as through the Decade of Vaccines his foundation helped pioneer to develop and administer vaccines around the world — just called out President Donald Trump’s decision to pull U.S. funding from the World Health Organization as abysmal, “dangerous” and deadly.
Hmm. There’s an entirely unexpected and shocking reaction — not.
His condemnation isn’t rooted so much in a “watching out for America” kind of view as it is in a “protecting self and self-interests” panic.
Yes, even billionaire philanthropists can have agendas.
Fact is, Gates is a huge funder of WHO.
Fact is, Gates, through his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is a huge partner with WHO.
Gates, given his obvious conflicts of interest with the vaccine world and his sudden elevation on the coronavirus-fighting stage, maybe isn’t the best person to judge Trump’s decision to release American taxpayers from the burden of WHO. After all, Trump is the face of the “America First” movement.
Gates?
“Meet the world’s most powerful doctor: Bill Gates,” Politico wrote back in 2017. “The software mogul’s sway over the World Health Organization spurs criticism about misplaced priorities and undue influence.”
Gates is the face of WHO.
“Halting funding for Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds,” Gates tweeted. “Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs @WHO now more than ever.”
Maybe the world does. But does America?
As Trump said, in announcing the pulling of between $400 million and $500 million of U.S. dollars from the global body, WHO screwed up. WHO put China before America. WHO was responsible for “severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”
So what Gates is unhappy? Boo-freaking-hoo. Gates is a guy with conflicted interests that don’t necessarily put America at the top. Trump is a guy with a full-steam-ahead, America-comes-first agenda.
For Americans, the choice on whom to side with and support is a no-brainer.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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