The internecine feud between Donald Trump and the powerful Koch donor network just ratcheted up with the Republican National Committee warning GOP donors and candidates alike to steer clear of the Kochs. Politico writes:
“Some groups who claim to support conservatives forgo their commitment when they decide their business interests are more important than those of the country or Party,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel wrote in a memo to party contributors on Thursday afternoon. “This is unacceptable.”
McDaniel went on to assure donors that Trump has placed his faith in the RNC as "the only entity" that can be trusted to get Republicans elected (i.e. not the Kochs). And she warned that because the Kochs have created their own data operation to rival the RNC's, the network could now start using that data against Republican candidates and interests.
"From the beginning, the RNC had concerns about any outside entity building a data operation to compete with ours because we knew they could potentially weaponize that data against Republicans if their business interests conflicted with electing Republicans," McDaniel wrote. "Sadly, our concerns were recently proven true."
Presumably, she's referring to the Kochs' decision not to back the Republican running against North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, which the GOP views as a pickup opportunity.
But make no mistake, McDaniel's appeal to Republican donors to ice out the Koch network has taken this feud from being a high-profile pissing match between billionaires to a system-wide schism within the Republican party.
Yowza.