Koch brothers challenge Trump, and he fires back
The president calls the businessmen a ‘total joke’ after they criticize his trade and immigration policies.
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday lashed out at the Koch brothers, saying their conservative political network had “become a total joke in real Republican circles” and was “highly overrated” — deepening the divide between the GOP’s donor class and its increasingly populist base at a crucial time, three months before the midterm election.
The comments, which came in a series of morning tweets, were an almost inevitable response to statements by Charles Koch, the billionaire conservative, and his aides, who revealed at their annual donor conference in Colorado that they would not be supporting some Republican Senate candidates who are in line with Trump’s tariff and immigration policies.
At the weekend summit, Brian Hooks, the co-chairman of the network of Kochaffiliated groups, bemoaned the “tremendous lack of leadership” in Washington and the “deterioration of the core institutions of society.”
Hooks and other top Koch operatives pointedly criticized the White House and GOP lawmakers allied with Trump, taking particular issue with their positions on trade policy and increased federal spending.
Charles Koch, who now runs the family’s political network after the retirement of his brother David, who is ill, was somewhat more restrained, acknowledging that political polarization affected Washing ton and the country long before Trump entered the fray.
“We’ve had divisiveness long before Trump became president and we’ll have it long after he’s no longer president,” he told reporters Sunday. “I’m into hating the sin, not the sinner.”
Trump fired back in his tweets.
“The globalist Koch Brothers, who have become a total joke in real Republican
circles, are against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade,” he wrote. “I never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas.”
Trump added that the Kochs “love” some of his policies, including tax cuts and conservative picks for federal courts. Indeed, the industrialists did mobilize their political arm behind the GOP’s tax reform package last year, spending about $20 million to support it.
Although they have benefited from the administration’s tax cuts and deregulation efforts, the Kochs oppose Trump’s immigration and trade policies, especially tariffs.
The brothers, Trump said, are now driven by a desire to “protect their companies outside the U.S. from being taxed.”
“I’m for America First & the American Worker — a puppet for no one,” Trump said. “Two nice guys with bad ideas. Make America Great Again!”
Trump escalated a feud that has its roots in the 2016 GOP primaries, when Charles and David Koch backed other candidates. During the general election campaign, Charles Koch told Fortune magazine that choosing between Trump and Hillary Clinton was akin to deciding between cancer or a heart attack.
Even after Trump won, the Kochs and their network of affiliated groups retained influence in the White House, especially on tax and environmental policy.
Marc Short, who recently left as White House director of legislative affairs, had previously led Freedom Partners, a Koch-backed group. Short also worked as an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, who has met privately with the Kochs since becoming vice president and gave the keynote address at an event for conservative activists they held last year in Virginia.
Trump allies in Washington, half a dozen of whom spoke Tuesday on the condition on anonymity, agreed with the president’s assessment that the Kochs are mainly looking to protect their own business interests.