Trump, Koch brothers part company on politics

NEW YORK — The war of words intensified between two titans in Republican politics on Tuesday as President Donald Trump trashed the conservative billionaire Koch brothers as a “total joke in real Republican circles.”

The presidential insult followed a weekend gathering of Koch officials who repeatedly condemned Trump’s trade policies, the explosion of government spending under his watch and his divisive tone.

The intra-party feud could hurt the GOP in this fall’s midterm elections and beyond. While the Kochs refused to endorse Trump’s first presidential run, the president’s loyalists don’t want his 2020 re-election campaign bogged down by lingering bad blood. The Koch network boasts an army of grassroots activists across 36 states and has promised to spend between $300 million and $400 million on politics and policy this election cycle alone.

“The globalist Koch Brothers, who have become a total joke in real Republican circles, are against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade,” Trump tweeted. “I never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas.”

The president later added: “I’m for America First & the American Worker — a puppet for no one. Two nice guys with bad ideas.”

Over the weekend, network patriarch, 82-year-old Charles Koch, refused to criticize Trump personally when The Associated Press asked whether the president should C. Koch bear any responsibility for the divisive tone in Washington.

“We’ve had divisiveness long before Trump became president and we’ll have it long after he’s no longer president,” Koch said. “I’m into hating the sin and not the sinner.”

On Monday, the Kochs’ political advocacy network announced it would not back the GOP candidate in the North Dakota Senate race, determining that Republican challenger Kevin Cramer’s record on government spending made him no better than Democratic incumbent Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in the marquee Senate contest.

The Kochs have not ruled out similar moves in top-tier Senate races in Indiana, Missouri, Montana and West Virginia, although they are actively working to help elect Republican Senate candidates in Florida, Tennessee and Wisconsin.