Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has pushed back on Melinda French Gates’ endorsement of US President Joe Biden, suggesting it might be bad for the West.
The ex-wife of Microsoft mogul Bill Gates endorsed Biden on Thursday, presenting him as the candidate that cared about women. The incumbent Democrat is facing a rematch with his predecessor Donald Trump in November.
“I am once again asking for the scorned billionaire wife to Democrat activist pipeline to be studied,” conservative influencer Ashley St.Clair wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in response. “Melinda Gates is about to spend so much divorce money on getting Joe Biden elected.”
“Might be the downfall of western civilization,” replied Musk. He also agreed with St. Clair’s follow-up that “many villain arcs [are] being pursued under the guise of philanthropy.”
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French Gates’ 2021 divorce left her with an estimated net worth of over $11 billion. She quickly pivoted from her foundation work to political activism on behalf of the Democrats.
The ruling party in Washington already has a prominent ex-wife of a tech mogul in a major supporting role, however. Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, used some of his inheritance to donate to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
The Emerson Collective, which she founded in 2004 to engage in educational philanthropy and social justice, expanded its portfolio to immigration advocacy during the Obama administration. Powell Jobs has since used it to buy The Atlantic magazine in 2017 and a stake in Axios.
Meanwhile, Musk’s politics shifted towards the Republicans after Biden came to the White House. The Tesla founder and SpaceX CEO ended up buying Twitter in 2022, after complaining about widespread censorship on the platform, and rebranding it as X.
He has stopped just short of endorsing Trump in the 2024 election, but endorsed a Republican victory as a way to preserve the US from collapsing.
“I voted 100% [Democrat] until a few years ago. Now, I think we need a red wave or America is toast,” Musk said in March.