Trade wars appears to be the straw that is breaking the billionaire Koch Brothers blanket support of Republicans, since that means also having to tacitly support Russian asset Donald Trump. They are sort of officially breaking it off with Republicans. Charles Koch, breaking a long silence with reporters, even talked about the "mistakes" he and his brother have made with their political network, "alluding to the strictly partisan playbook that the organization has deployed for more than a decade."
He told reporters that he "regrets" the support they've given to some Republicans—no names dropped—who "say they're going to be for these principles that we espoused and then they aren't." The orange elephant in the room is, of course, Trump. “The divisiveness of this White House is causing long-term damage," said Brian Hooks, co-chair of the Seminar Network, at this weekend's meeting of the Koch super-rich donor network.
The divisiveness is one thing, though Koch says "I'm into hating the sin not the sinner" when asked directly about Trump. The trade wars are completely another for the libertarians, who blasted Trump's tariffs. They're also less than thrilled with the $1.3 trillion spending bill that passed this spring. "We’re horrified by the spending. Absolutely horrified," said Brent Gardner, head of government affairs for Americans for Prosperity. "This is something run-on, and run-from when it's time to take votes." To give them some credit, they call policy of kidnapping immigrant children and ripping families apart "abhorrent."
Somewhat remarkably, Charles Koch is accepting part of the blame for creating this Republican party. "We’re all part of that. None of us are perfect and none of us fully embrace mutual benefit and equal rights." Which is a helluva lot more than any Republican pundit has been willing to do so far.
This isn't all just talk, either. AFP has announced that they will not be supporting the Republican candidate in one of this year's close Senate races, saying they won't endorse North Dakota Republican Kevin Cramer because "he's not leading on the issues where this country needs leadership the most right now." In fact, they've gone as far as running an ad thanking incumbent Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp for her vote to roll back some of the Dodd-Frank rules on banks. Which makes them only slightly less evil. Heitkamp probably shouldn't be counting on that support to continue.
But it is ratcheting up the Republican civil war, which is always a treat.
It even got Steve Bannon to crawl out from under his rock to issue threats on behalf of the guy who fired him all those months ago. "What they have to do is shut up and get with the program, OK?" he railed at them. "And here’s the program: Ground game to support Trump’s presidency and program, [and] victory on Nov. 6."
And here's the problem. The Kochs don't see victory on November 6. They’re hedging their bets and looking for inroads to stay relevant.
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