A couple weeks ago we discussed the ongoing Koch effort to fight electric vehicle tax credits, and the many debunkings of their “factual” and rhetorical justifications. So excuse us for retreading slightly old ground, but we would be remiss not to point out the latest and starkest example of how the Koch network creates its own reality.
On Thursday, the Daily Caller “reported” on a letter sent to Congress opposing electric vehicle tax credits, signed by a bunch of conservative groups. Now the story makes it seem as if it’s a broad coalition of conservative groups presenting a credible argument, independent of any possible profit motive.
That is, of course, hardly the case.
As Ben Jarvey at DeSmog pointed out in his debunking, the Caller’s story went live at 5:10am- well before the letter could have possibly been delivered and press notified. So it seems that the Koch groups coordinated with the Koch-funded media outlet on the release of a letter filled with Koch talking points, in order to advance the Koch’s argument for a political change Koch Industries will benefit from.
This is one of the clearest examples yet of how the decades of supposedly philanthropic work the Kochs have done has created an entire ecosystem where the Koch’s interests are disguised as a larger ideological concern independent of their profit motive.
Lose any one piece of the puzzle, and they’d be hobbled by reality.
Without an uncritical media to broadcast repeatedly-debunked messages, no one would hear them, because few if any legitimate reporters still take claims from these groups at face value. Without paying people to spout those repeatedly-debunked messages, there’d be nothing to hear, because practically no one is willing to say wrong things repeatedly unless they’re getting paid to do so. And without the original papers from Koch-funded organizations or commissions to provide the talking points, there’d be nothing to say, because there are no independent or unbiased justifications for their policy asks.
By approaching their political spending holistically, and taking full advantage of lax enforcement of charity rules (thanks in part to a fake scandal they helped manufacture), Koch money has created an echo chamber that protects the Koch’s profit.
And because most of these “donations” can be used as tax write-offs, an the Koch’s preferred policies pretty uniformly hurt public health and/or average Americans’ wallets, those harmed by these policies are essentially left to pick up the tab a few times over.
But sure, we totally shouldn’t subsidize electric cars, per the Koch letter, because that only helps the rich. And that’s the last thing the Kochs would want, right?
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