Bill Gates spent the 1990s acting like a corporate warlord, threatening any rival startup that dared to exist in the same ecosystem. Then, after nearly being torn apart by antitrust lawsuits, he hired a massive PR team to rebrand himself as the world's kindly, sweater-wearing grandfather who just wants to eradicate disease.It was a shameless makeover, and many on the left eagerly bought in to it. Then came the stories about cozy dinners with Jef…