The Real Reason Bill Gates Won't Run For President

Wealthy businessmen have been known to run for President, and as a cursory glance at your news feed will no doubt tell you, they have been even known to succeed. Taking the logic of business folks in the White House to its logical extreme, though: Have you ever wondered why none of the really rich businesspeople have ever thrown their gold-plated hats into the Presidential candidacy ring? If nothing else, the primaries would be infinitely more entertaining to watch when one of the candidates could gleefully hurl literal bags of money at any opponent who opens their mouth within throwing distance. Maybe the debate moderators could award points.

But we're getting carried away. When you look at, say, the absolute richest people in the world, it's clear why some of them haven't gone after the leadership of the free world. Jeff Bezos is a noted tax dodger with plenty of eyebrow-raising business practices and personal habits to potentially undermine even the most expensive Presidential campaign. Even if he decided to hit the campaign trail and got elected, Warren Buffett would be in his nineties should he take the office. But how about Bill Gates? The Microsoft founder has been around for a while and knows all the movers and shakers, yet is still in his mid-sixties. Why has he never run for President? Or is he planning to do so at some point, but hasn't gotten around to telling anyone quite yet? Let's find out!

Turns out, we know perfectly well why Bill Gates doesn't intend to run for President because, as Business Insider tells us, he has personally reflected on the subject in a Reddit AMA in 2018. Gates says he's not interested in the Presidency because he's far too busy with his work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his other post-Microsoft efforts. He does, however, have some views on what future occupants of the Oval Office should be like: Gates feels that it's "important to have a President who thinks long term about the US role in the world and the research to solve disease burdens and costs and to tackle climate change and improve education."