Why the Epstein Files Fallout Keeps Growing
Business leaders have blamed a range of villains for public anger toward the status quo, but it’s past time they take some responsibility.
Jeffrey Epstein.
Photo illustration: Allison DeBritz; Photographer: Rick Friedman/Getty Images
Early last year, Bill Gates embarked on a book tour to promote his memoir, Source Code: My Beginnings. It was an awkward moment for the billionaire philanthropist. Months earlier, Gates had made a poorly timed political bet, donating $50 million to a group supporting Kamala Harris. He was now watching Donald Trump elevate some of the fiercest Gates critics to positions of power.
To lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Trump picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’d spuriously claimed that Gates was implanting harmful microchips under the guise of vaccine campaigns. Elon Musk, the head of the new administration’s government efficiency effort, had mocked the Microsoft co-founder for years while promoting election-related conspiracies that centered on the Gates Foundation. Now, Musk was attempting to shut down the foreign aid apparatus he’d spent decades trying to supplement.