Bill Gates: Trump couldn't differentiate HIV from HPV, but was well-versed on Gates' daughter's looks


It turns out that the White House isn't the only place that leaks. During a recent Gates Foundation meeting with staff, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates talked about his two encounters with President Trump, according to video obtained by MSNBC, and Gates showed that he's both surprisingly funny and not too impressed with the current president.
Gates explained that he first met Trump in December 2016, but Trump had met his and wife Melinda's daughter Jennifer, now 22, before at an equestrian event in Florida. "So when I first talked to him, it was actually kind of scary how well he knew — how much he knew about my daughter's appearance," Gates said. "Melinda didn't like that too well." A big advocate of vaccinations, Gates said he tried to talk Trump out of forming a commission to study the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism, as proposed by Robert Kennedy Jr. Trump did not seem too well-versed on vaccines, or viruses, he added. "Both times he wanted to know if there was a difference between HIV and HPV, so I was able to explain that those are rarely confused with each other."
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS, and there is no vaccine for it yet; there is a vaccine for human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S., though many social conservatives oppose that vaccine on the theory that vaccinating teenage girls will encourage sexual promiscuity. Trump is increasingly pushing abstinence-only education. Gates had a parting shot, too, recalling the first thing Trump said to him, and his reaction: "'Trump hears that you don't like what Trump is doing,' and I thought: Wow, but you're Trump."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Trump DOJ indicts New York AG Letitia James
Speed Read New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted as Trump’s Justice Department pursues charges against his political opponents
-
Judge blocks Trump’s Guard deployment in Chicago
Speed Read The president is temporarily blocked from federalizing the Illinois National Guard or deploying any Guard units in the state
-
Trump urges jail for Illinois, Chicago leaders
Speed Read The Texas National Guard begin operations in the Chicago area
-
Bondi stonewalls on Epstein, Comey in Senate face-off
Speed Read Attorney General Pam Bondi denied charges of using the Justice Department in service of Trump’s personal vendettas
-
Court allows Trump’s Texas troops to head to Chicago
Speed Read Trump is ‘using our service members as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,’ said Gov. J.B. Pritzker
-
Judge bars Trump’s National Guard moves in Oregon
Speed Read In an emergency hearing, a federal judge blocked President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denial
Speed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels
speed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats