Trump Slams 'Globalist' Koch Brothers
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Donald Trump denounced the “globalist” Koch brothers on Twitter, fueling a row over his aggressive trade policies, which the multi-billionaire Republican donors vehemently oppose.
Charles and David Koch have bankrolled campaigns against Trump’s imposition of tariffs on key trading partners, including China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Trump has claimed America’s trading partners practices are unfair and take advantage of the U.S. He has used the threat of tariffs to force a renegotiation of trade deals. But Trump has had to ask for patience from his supporters, many of whom have been hit by the blowback of retaliatory tariffs.
“The globalist Koch Brothers, who have become a total joke in real Republican circles, are against Strong Borders and Powerful Trade,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.
“I never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas. They love my Tax & Regulation Cuts, Judicial picks & more. I made them richer.
“Their network is highly overrated, I have beaten them at every turn. They want to protect their companies outside the U.S. from being taxed, I’m for America First & the American Worker—a puppet for no one. Two nice guys with bad ideas. Make America Great Again!”
The Koch brothers, who have long been a major funder of the Republican Party, campaign primarily through their group Americans for Prosperity.
They indicated they would be less partisan in the future, putting money behind any candidates or campaigns that advance the overall libertarian agenda they believe in.
A day before Trump’s Twitter outburst, the Koch network unveiled a new strategy to build “broad-based coalitions” on issues. "We’ll engage in politics to a degree to which it's really moving our overall agenda," 82-year-old Charles Koch said, reported NBC News .
“The divisiveness of this White House is causing long-term damage,” said Brian Hooks, co-chair of the Koch-backed Seminar Network, using more direct language.
The Koch fortune comes from the petroleum-refining industry. According to Forbes , 78-year-old David Koch and brother Charles are each worth $53.1 billion. The brothers are known to have campaigned against climate change regulations.
They did not support the Trump campaign in 2016 and have clashed with Trump on a number of issues, including child separation from parents at America’s border, not just trade.
But they did support Trump’s massive program of tax cuts, and put their money behind campaigns trying to sell it to the American public.
Steve Bannon, the former White House chief strategist, has also attacked the Koch brothers over their stance on the president.
“What they have to do is shut up and get with the program, OK?” Bannon told Politico . “And here’s the program: Ground game to support Trump’s presidency and program, [and] victory on November 6,” said Bannon, referring to the midterms, in which Republicans hope to fight off an anti-Trump backlash and maintain control of Congress.
“We support policies that help all people improve their lives. We look forward to working with anyone to do so,” James Davis, a spokesman for the Koch network, said in a statement to Newsweek responding to Trump's tweets.
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If the Koch brothers supported him he would talking about how "incredible" they are.
Hopefully they will all screw each other over to the benefit of the American people.
All of them are so twisted that when they die, they won't bury them. They will just screw them into the ground.
The Koch Brothers are right.
In related news the Dow is up as Us and China begin talks to avoid a trade war.
Oh my. He keeps digging himself deeper and deeper, doesn't he . He's made this country into a fuckin' joke.
When he said "I could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and they'd still vote for me," he was calling his base mindless, absurd, unintelligent lemmings and they didn't get the reference. He continues to fuck over his base [what happened to Mexico paying for the wall? Is ISIS dead? Is Hillary locked up?] knowing they won't give a shit. Party over country. Perhaps I'm giving far more credit to his base than he himself is giving them. I say they won't give a shit. I believe his train of thought is that they're not smart enough to know what he's up to. He's called them stupid from the onset and he continues to relish being able to pull the wool over their eyes.
When will they get that the fat, traitorous, incestuous, lying emperor-wannabe has no clothes?
One of those non-humorous jokes.
Did the orange baby-man forget that these guys basically bankrolled the entire GOP? Does trump want republicans in Congress or not?**
**Not to worry...the Koch Brothers already stated that they intend to bankroll campaigns that are in line with their libertarian agenda. Care about the little guy my ass
They've always thought they could buy the presidency. Little did they know that the rush-ins could pander their way in.
Speaking of little guy, when Trump tweeted re Cohen "Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer", doesn't he realize that he admitted that he KNEW about the Russian taxicab shit and kept Cohen retained anyway? Who's crooked here? He knew about the taxicab crap and kept him as a lawyer. I think the hair dye and hair spray finally filled up the empty space in his skull. If my counsel were a crook, I wouldn't associate with him/her.
I hate to point this out to all the bashers, but there is even another reason for tariffs, which is to protect native producers from being hurt or put out of business by putting tariffs on their competing imports. This makes it more expensive to buy imports then buy local, so of course they'll buy all the local product first before the imports. It helps the producers, keeps jobs in country, and the money stays in the local and that country's economy.
Yes we know that as Milton pointed out in the video. It protects a few at the expense of everyone else and does more harm than good in the big picture.
Then I have to disagree with him.
Hell with it, let's just buy everything from other countries especially China they can produce cheaper crap than we can anyway. We can always farm our military out to pay for it, or sell them some war toys. Or how about promising to not interfere in the China sea or we could trade them Porto Rico. In quiet private meetings, of course. Wouldn't that be a "great deal?"
Can't get too nasty at China, who'd we borrow money from if we bother them too much? That last loan isn't going to go very far the way trump loves to throw money around.
The Trump administration plans to propose slapping a 25-percent tariff on $200 billion of imported Chinese goods after initially setting them at 10 percent, in a bid to pressure Beijing into making trade concessions, a source familiar with the plan said on Tuesday. President Donald Trump’s administr...
It’s bad policy we agree on that and a wide array of manufacturers are starting to push back. The auto industry is already starting to take a hit. There are a lot of good articles on this misguided policy over at the Cato Institute.
This portion of the article is something that I've harped on for years. It's always ignored since it doesn't fit the narrative of the administration. And US services is growing at a rapid pace.
Another thing that is avoided is that the US has a trade surplus with Hong Kong of $32 billion in 2017. HK is part of China but reported as a separate entity. We also have a trade surplus with Macau, part of China but reported as a separate entity.