" *MELINDA -BILL GATES- FOUNDATION* "

GLOBAL PHILANTHROPY in the era of Trump. Bill and  Melinda Gates say the president's policies are affecting their work all around.

''I WISH our president would treat people and especially women, with more respect, when he speaks and tweets,'' Ms. Gates said.

''Those disparaging comments don't belong to any public discourse,'' Ms. Gates said in a recent joint  interview. ''His derogatory comments about African countries and Haiti have caused disbelief among people they work with outside the United States''.

''That's not how we teach our kids to speak,'' she continued. ''So its discouraging to hear that kind of talk.''

MS GATES made family planning a focus of her work with the foundation. She said the Trump administration decision last year to expand a ban prohibiting American aid-

To any health organizations that provide or discuss abortion in family planning had caused ''chaos'' in the field - forcing them to still their work as they figured out how to adhere to the rules.

And in her annual letter, Ms Gates, 53  is blunt in her view of the way Mr. Trump communicates :

''I wish a president would treat people and especially women, with more respect when he speaks and tweets,'' she writes.

A White House spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr. Gates, 62 said he was particularly worried about Mr. Trump's threats to cut foreign aid, which the Gates Foundation considers critical in the global battle against disease and poverty.

He said he was reassured that Congress had so far resisted the president's demands to cut aid and that he and his wife had increased their visits to the Republican members of Congress to stress the importance of maintaining the aid budget.

''Although we disagree with this administration more than the others we've met with, we believe it's still important to work together whenever possible,'' he writes in the letter. ''We keep talking to them because the U.S. cuts back on its investments abroad, people in other countries will die, and Americans will be worse off.''

One of the questions in the letter is about what happens the two of them disagree.

Mr. Gates wrote, ''When I get really enthusiastic about some thing, I count on her to make sure that I'm being realistic.''

Ms. Gates said they tend to avoid hashing out their disagreements in front of bigger groups of the  foundation, saving them for private discussions, which they have on walks.

''Having a little bit of grist in the system is actually a good thing,'' she said.

!WOW! thanks author and researcher Nick Wingfield.