The Kochs vs Trump
by digby
Apparently, the Koch brothers and their pals are in a dither over Trump. He’s more of a lunatic than even they can stomach and that’s saying something.This piece is by Daniel Schulman, one of the foremost chroniclers of the Koch brothers:
If Trump performs poorly in New Hampshire, the Koch network may be able to avoid a damaging showdown. But if he wins, it may already be too late to halt the runaway Trump train, especially if there’s no Trump-targeting campaign in the can. So what happens if Trump seizes the nomination? Here’s where things get very interesting.
If Trump becomes the nominee and he faces self-declared socialist Bernie Sanders in November, the senior Koch official explains, members of the donor network are likely to hold their noses and back Trump’s candidacy. But there’s another scenario that could prove far more controversial and possibly damaging for the network: a Trump-versus-Clinton matchup. There is absolutely no love between the Clintons and the Kochs, whose company experienced one of the most traumatic periods in its history as it fought off regulators during Bill Clinton’s presidency. But, so strong is the dislike for Trump within Koch network, that a Clinton-Trump race is a tough call. “I could see the network not participating in the presidential election at all,” says the senior Koch official.
This doesn’t mean the Koch network would stand down in 2016 entirely. Under this scenario, donors would instead channel their resources into other races. If this were to occur—and it’s a very big if—that would be a stunning development for a network of donors that has been amassing such a huge warchest for the presidential race.
Who knows if they’d actually do that? Trump would probably kiss their rings and pledge fealty to their agenda and they’d reluctantly support him. They do come from the same social cast of entitled heirs to their fathers’ fortunes. They all know the secret handshake.
Still, it’s fun to see the Big Money Boyz in such a quandary. They have spent decades and hundreds of millions to buy the GOP and they still can’t control the outcome of hese elections. If only they could get those pesky voters out of the equation.
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