Kevin Robillard has a HuffPost write up of donor discontent at the Koch brothers annual get together in Colorado Springs: Koch Network leaders blast Trump White House as ‘divisive’.
The network, which has spent millions over the past 15 years to shape the GOP in its image, has had an up-and-down relationship with the president. It refused to back his election bid in 2016, but has succeeded in filling the Trump administration with allies who share its economic libertarian vision, often with the help of Vice President Mike Pence. It’s praised the president’s judicial selections ― and has said it will spend heavily to promote the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court ― as well as the GOP tax cuts. But it has broken with him on immigration and trade.
In a briefing for reporters, top Koch network officials said the Trump administration’s rhetoric was making it more difficult for politicians and Americans to find common ground.
Brace for impact. No matter how cynical you get, you can’t keep up.
“The manner in which people engage public policy matters,” said Brian Hooks, the co-chair of the Seminar Network, the umbrella group that hosts the gatherings. “And it’s gone way beyond tone, way beyond tactic. The divisiveness of this White House is causing long-term damage.”
“When in order to win on an issue, somebody else has to lose, it makes it very difficult to unite people to solve the problems in this country,” Hooks said.
There were no reports that Hooks immediately burst into flames after making that statement. Translation: Trump is hurting our bottom line and we don’t like it. We are not the ones who are supposed to be losing.
See, after spending billions to install a government that is packing the judiciary with corporatist judges, is rolling back environmental regulations, is blowing up the deficit with tax cuts, and is turning America into the private reserve of its rich white male owners (the real “Ownership Society”), Trump has gone a bridge too far: Trade Wars.
Funny thing about that. People whose fortunes are based on multi-national corporations with loyalty to no country don’t like trade wars. When someone gets in the way of money flowing across borders, the exploitation of cheap labor, the international destruction of the environment, and every other way in which they make the planet their playground, that’s a bridge too far.
Especially when you realize Trump is blowing up trade deals that they crafted in the first place.
It’s beyond irony that they are now trying to play the Civility Card. Notice what does NOT concern them: Trump’s subservience to Putin, Russian interference undermining our political system, blatant corruption, the undeniable reality of Climate Change trashing the planet before our eyes. And it’s not that they plan to stop feeding the monster they have created.
This year’s gathering of donors was the network’s largest ever, with more than 500 donors pledging more than $100,000 apiece toward the network’s efforts, which include everything from backing nonprofits and universities to lobbying for regulatory rollbacks to attacking Democratic senators.
For “nonprofits” read that as AstroTurf lobbying groups. For universities, read that as turning them into conservative/libertarian indoctrination centers. And let’s see… 500+ donors times $100,000 each is at least $50,000,000. Thank you Citizen’s United. That’s $50 million for just this year alone — on top of all the other political contributions they make on their own.
And why do I think that none of that money will go to someone like Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, who is trying to bring people together, not divide them?
Read The Whole Thing. These are the people doing their best to make sure the country runs for the benefit of them and them alone. These are the people who will blatantly co-opt/corrupt liberal messaging when it suits their purposes. This is as big or bigger than the upcoming battle between Democrats and Republicans in the fall, or the ongoing efforts of Russia to undermine us. Take a look at the Republicans at the summit who are auditioning for a role in their political puppet show.
In a different America, this gathering would be treated as the equivalent of the Apalachin meeting.
This story should be getting more national news coverage. I found it buried in my Sunday news feed via AOL (Yeah, I still have an account.) Here’s the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg. They’re focusing on the trade/business aspects of the meeting.
Kudos to ABC News for reporting that this is happening even as the Koch brothers are in the middle of re-branding themselves. “Koch brothers” is starting to have too many negative connotations — they’re shifting to Koch Network, and eventually hope to fade into the background even as their agenda goes on.
The money behind the Kochs' push to transform education, philanthropy, immigration, health care, tax laws, courts, government regulation, prisons and the economy has long been cloaked in secrecy.
Koch officials have vowed to spend between $300 million and $400 million to shape the 2018 midterm elections. But there's no way to verify how or where the money is spent because most of its organizations are registered as nonprofit groups, which aren't required to detail their donors like traditional political action committees.
While they have long been closely aligned with the Republican Party's far-right flank, they oppose the Trump administration's policies on spending, trade and immigration.
When these super-rich ‘patriots’ cheer America, here’s what they’re really cheering.