There’s a specific kind of lie that powerful men tell when the walls start closing in: the minimizing lie, the “it wasn’t what it looked like” lie, the “I was barely there” lie. Bill Gates tried that last one earlier this month, insisting his relationship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was limited to dinners.
“It’s factually true that I was only at dinners,” Gates said. He claimed he “never met any women.” The Epstein Files just proved otherwise—young women were present, and there are photos. According to some, no amount of philanthropic goodwill should erase that.
But in Seattle, philanthropic goodwill has erased a lot. A name on a building is a command: suspend memory, smooth the sharp edges, turn biography into infrastructure, and controversy into cornerstone. It dares you to forget that the name above the door still belongs to someone who breathes, errs, and benefits from the power that placed it there…