While a significant development, doesn’t this reporter know that there’s only one Koch brother now? Or has “Koch Brothers” become just a proxy for rich people the Left doesn’t like?
The Koch brothers, whose political machine fuels the most powerful donor network in conservative politics, are declaring that machine will be part of the NeverTrump effort for 2024, aiming to deny former President Donald Trump a third nomination for the White House.
The declaration, released in a recent memo to staffers and activists, never explicitly mentions Trump, but it’s abundantly clear from the tone in Americans for Prosperity CEO Emily Seidel’s message that the grassroots behemoth she leads has no plans of being a passive player in Republican politics when it comes to the White House. “Our country must move past the current political situation—we’ve got to turn the page on the past several years,” she wrote. “If we want to elect better people, we need better candidates. And if we want better candidates, we’ve got to get involved in elections earlier and in more primaries.”
>“If we want to elect better people, we need better candidates. And if we want better candidates, we’ve got to get involved in elections earlier and in more primaries.”
I suspect their rather vague statement has different meaning to different people on the right. Hasn’t this been the knock AGAINST the RNC’s stable of candidates for the past 30 years? That THEIR candidates represented the interests of Republican Inc. rather than Republican voters in general and conservative voters in particular? The RNC and conservative voters have been at odds for quite some time. The tea party movement and later MAGA were born out of that perceived lack of representation in DC.
Donald Trump happened precisely because of the disconnect between the RNC and their voters. Republican voters rejected the Republican Inc. offering of 2016 primary candidates in favor of a flawed wrecking ball of a candidate. What has the RNC learned since then? Apparently not a lot. Republican Inc. seeks a return to control of the electorate by littering ballots with only their groomed candidates. Republican Inc. and Republican voters are still using entirely different metrics when determining what constitutes ‘better than Trump.’
Americans for Prosperity ought to clarify just which Americans they intend to see prosper with their efforts.
As for the Koch Network? They will have the best candidate money can buy!!