Koch Network Vows to Oppose Trump in Republican Presidential Primary: ‘We’ve Got to Turn the Page’
The billionaire Koch brothers’ network of donor-class organizations is vowing to oppose former President Donald Trump as he looks to secure the Republican nomination in the 2024 primary race.
A memo from Americans for Prosperity CEO Emily Seidel details the network’s plan to publicly oppose Trump’s candidacy in the GOP presidential primary — a move that comes as no surprise as the Kochs and former president have long been at odds on policy.
“The Republican Party is nominating bad candidates who are advocating for things that go against core American principles. And the American people are rejecting them,” the memo states:
When you understand the landscape this way, it’s clear: Our country must move past the current political situation – we’ve got to turn the page on the past several years. [Emphasis added]
…
Lots of people are frustrated. But very few people are in a position to do something about it. AFP is. Now is the time to rise to the occasion. [Emphasis added]
Billionaire kingpins of climate denial upset by billionaire ex-president’s trade policy – politics 2023: Koch network to oppose Trump in primary after sitting out recent cycles – The Washington Post https://t.co/DlYwKGFmgr
— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) February 5, 2023
The memo was issued to the network’s donors at a Palm Springs, California, summit this weekend where Republicans such as Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) were in attendance.
Sen. Eric Schmitt on August 02, 2022, in St Louis, Missouri. (Kyle Rivas/Getty Images)
The Koch network, for decades, has been opposed to populist-nationalist policy solutions to some of the nation’s biggest issues. Trump’s victory in the 2016 GOP presidential primary and in the subsequent general election made even more public the network’s opposition to reducing immigration, putting tariffs on foreign imports, and other issues out of step with Republican voters.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC). (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Most recently, for example, the Washington Free Beacon reported that the Koch network has joined the likes of billionaire George Soros and the left-wing Rockefeller Brothers Fund to revive the Iran nuclear deal that was backed by former President Obama and thrown out by Trump in 2018.
Americans for Prosperity’s political action committee (PAC), which serves as the network’s largest political arm, spends tens of millions of dollars each election cycle to back a number of Republican candidates.
A coalition of progressive activists bankrolled by George Soros, Charles Koch, & the Rockefeller Brothers Fund are mounting a secret lobbying campaign to revive the Iran nuclear deal, correspondence obtained by the Free Beacon reveals:https://t.co/KMpVgpK7hh
— Alana Goodman (@alanagoodman) February 1, 2023
The PAC’s donors — including real estate developers, financial firms, Big Agriculture, and construction companies — are those most likely to benefit from the network’s public policy positions.
In 2022, the PAC spent millions to back Republicans such as Herschel Walker, Ron Johnson, Mehmet Oz, Ted Budd, Eric Schmitt, David Perdue, Mike Lee, Maria Salazar, and Nancy Mace, among others.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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