Billionaire Bill Gates details dinner that left him 'impressed' by President-elect Trump
Billionaire Bill Gates recently offered a rare glimpse into his private conversation with President-elect Donald Trump and a nearly three-hour dinner that left him "impressed." Gates, who backed Trump’s opponent Vice President Harris in the 2024 election, seemed to walk away from the dinner with feelings of optimism about the president-elect.
"I had a chance, about two weeks ago, to go have a long and actually quite intriguing dinner with him," Gates told The Wall Street Journal.
In his interview, Gates detailed the "wide-ranging" dinner conversation, noting that he spoke with Trump about public health, which has been the major focus of Gates’ philanthropic efforts.
"I felt like he was energized and looking forward to helping to drive innovation," Gates told WSJ. "I was frankly impressed with how well he showed a lot of interest in the issues I brought up."
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Gates’ dinner with Trump comes as a growing group of billionaires and tech leaders flock to meet with the president-elect ahead of his historic return to the White House. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and pledged $1 million to the president-elect’s inaugural fund. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms also gave $1 million to the fund.
Citing people familiar with the discussion, WSJ reported the promise of the paycheck came before Zuckerberg met with Trump at a November Mar-a-Lago dinner following the Republican's presidential win.
At the dinner, according to the outlet, Zuckerberg also provided a demonstration of the company's latest invention — Ray Ban Smart Glasses — and gifted them to Trump.
Bezos, who also made the trek to Trump’s Florida estate, said that he left the dinner feeling "very optimistic" about the incoming administration. He also brushed off concerns about Trump’s relationship with Elon Musk.
"Elon has been very clear that he's doing this for the public interest and not for his personal gain. And I take him at face value," Bezos told Reuters, referencing the SpaceX CEO.
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Trump’s relationship with billionaires and tech moguls has changed tremendously since 2020, when he was banned from several social media platforms. Back in October, Gates was reported as saying privately that he gave about $50 million to a nonprofit supporting Vice President Harris.
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Additionally, Zuckerberg announced an end to Meta’s controversial fact-checking policies in a push to bring back "free expression on Facebook and Instagram." Zuckerberg admitted that the checks, which started in the wake of Trump’s 2016 victory, "destroyed more trust than they created." He also stated that the policies led to "too much censorship," despite the company trying "in good faith" to "address concerns" about misinformation.