In June 2016, the billionaire Koch brothers hosted a swanky retreat in Aspen, Colorado, and gathered top Republicans leaders to deliver a message: deliver our billionaire tax cuts and repeal the Affordable Care Act or the billionaire network that owns the Republican party will be closed for business.
The Koch brothers and their billionaire buddies are making good on that promise and intend to flood the midterm elections with $400 million to help Republicans. From Bloomberg:
The conservative political network led by billionaires Charles and David Koch plans to spend close to $400 million on policy and politics during the two-year election cycle that culminates with November’s midterm elections, a roughly 60 percent increase over 2015-16.
That will include as much as $20 million in 2018 to sell to voters the Republican tax cuts signed in December by President Donald Trump, about the same amount Koch-affiliated groups spent on promoting the legislation in 2017, officials with the Koch network said Saturday.
The plans were outlined to reporters at a three-day summit for some 550 donors and potential donors at a desert resort near Palm Springs, California. Previously, the organization had pledged to spend $300 million to $400 million this election cycle, up from the roughly $250 million it shelled out during the 2015-2016 campaign season.
Donald Trump may be a buffoon and Republicans may seem inept, but when it comes to achieving the goals of the Koch brothers, they are thrilled with the progress.
Charles Koch, 82, expressed optimism for the conservative movement as he welcomed donors who were standing amid palm trees, sipping cocktails.
“I’m more excited about what we’re doing and about the opportunities than I’ve ever been,” he said. “We have made more progress in the last five years than I had in the previous 50.”
Cha-ching! The Koch alliance of millionaires and billionaires intend to follow through on their promise to buy Republicans and their seats so they can achieve their other primary goals: repealing the Affordable Care Act, privatizing our public schools and dismantling Social Security and Medicare. Expect it.