Koch Network to Oppose Trump in 2024

A majority of American voters don’t want to see a repeat of the 2020 presidential election. Charles Koch, the conservative billionaire, is prepared to act quickly and use his political networks to stop Trump from winning the 2024 GOP presidential primaries. This is an interesting move, as Koch has been sitting on the sidelines ever since the 2016 presidential elections.

Koch supported many candidates in the GOP primary 2016 as an alternative to Trump. He’s never been a Trump supporter so it isn’t surprising that he still isn’t a supporter. It is interesting to me that he and his network have made it a point of coming out early in the hopes of having an influence on the primary. As A 3-page memo released on Sunday explains, the Koch network’s flagship group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), is in a position to make a difference in the primary process as few others can.

“The best thing for the country would be to have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter,” Emily Seidel, chief executive of the network’s flagship group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), wrote in a memo released publicly on Sunday. Seidel wrote a three-page memo indicating that AFP has taken on the responsibility to stop Trump. “Lots of people are frustrated. But very few people are in a position to do something about it. AFP is. Now is the time to rise to the occasion.”

This is a bold move. Trump’s selection of candidates is a major reason why Republicans failed to regain control of the Senate. This is also true for some gubernatorial elections. Although most voters are open to a change, Trump will not be able use Republican divisions to win the nomination. AFP is trying to coordinate support with other groups in order to stop Trump’s train.

The memo doesn’t outline the amount of money the Koch network will spend to try to defeat Trump in the primary but AFP’s affiliated super PAC spent more than $69 million in the 2022 cycle. The Club for Growth and several big individual donors are also signaling opposition to Trump’s third presidential campaign. Some may be encouraged by the memo from Koch to choose a side.

To avoid what happened in 2016 when Koch supported five alternatives to Trump and none succeeded in stopping Trump’s nomination, the Koch network plans to announce its endorsement of one single candidate by the end of the summer. The memo says, “AFP Action is prepared to support a candidate in the Republican presidential primary who can lead our country forward, and who can win.”

Trump and the Koch network have a major disagreement over economic policy. Trump backs economic nationalism, while Koch is called a neoliberal. “globalist” Trump supporters. Koch supports free trade in economics. Trump and the Koch Network work together to resist foreign intervention and to reduce nonviolent prison sentences.

The Key to your success Seidel states that this is a time for the Koch network, to be involved in early primaries and more.

The industrialist brothers gathered a powerful network of groups who sought to have a big impact on the political process. Sunday’s memo expressed frustration with the direction of American politics in the Trump era. “The Republican Party is nominating bad candidates who are advocating for things that go against core American principles. And the American people are rejecting them,” Seidel wrote. “If we want better candidates, we’ve got to get involved in elections earlier and more primaries.”

The influence of the Koch network may be helped by the general displeasure of Republicans with Trump’s decision to run for a third time. It’s early but his entrance into the race was not met with the enthusiasm he thought it would garner. People who have spoken to him say that he prefers to organize small events first and then build his state teams, before committing to larger rallies. However, everyone is now waiting to see if any other people will join the race to challenge him. Nikki Haley is the only candidate who has so far come forward. Republicans who don’t want Trump as their nominee for 2024 will be able to benefit from a smaller field of candidates that are challenging Trump, rather than the larger field in 2015.

This weekend, the Koch plan was presented to donors Meeting California. Representative Andrew Ogles (R–TN), Sen. Eric Schmitt, Rep. Nancy Mace and Rep. Eric Schmitt were among the attendees. Schmitt might have found it awkward, as he has recently endorsed Trump.

The memo promised to mobilize resources, including a million grassroots activists in all 50 states, data targeting technology called i360 and the Latino outreach organisation Libre. The memo said that in last year’s races, AFP and its affiliated super PAC knocked on more than 7 million doors, delivered more than 100 million pieces of mail, and contacted millions more voters by phone and email.

“The American people have shown that they’re ready to move on, and so AFP will help them do that,” In the memo, Seidel stated.

We’ll see how effective the Koch network still is after sitting out presidential contests since 2016.

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