Trump Exposes the Koch Brothers as a Problem in GOP

(NewsReady.com) – Last week, former President Donald Trump’s adviser Steve Bannon warned about the dangerous influence of GOP mega-donors. Now, Trump himself has reinforced that message. The Koch brothers and other big donors tried to stop him from getting the nomination, but failed — and he won an election. Is the RINO establishment scared history will repeat itself?

'Globalist and Pro China Losers': Trump Begins GOP-Mega Donor Attacks With Anti-Koch Jab As 2024 Heats Up https://t.co/uNriCVgKbt

— Mediaite (@Mediaite) February 16, 2023

As competition for next year’s Republican presidential nomination starts to heat up, a network of big donors, led by billionaire Charles Koch, is looking around for an anti-Trump candidate who can win over the Republican base. On February 13, Bannon, who served as chief White House strategist during Trump’s first months in office, used his podcast to slam those donors as “oligarchs” who are “1,000% anti-Trump.” Three days later, Trump himself joined the attack, posting a link to an article about Bannon’s podcast and adding some comments of his own.

The former president blasted the mega-donors as “Globalist and Pro China losers.” He reminded his followers that in 2016, they had tried to undermine his campaign and keep him from getting the nomination, but “lost big.”

Koch’s donor network seems determined to ensure Trump doesn’t get the nomination next time. An internal memo about next year’s presidential primaries says it’s time to “turn the page on the current political era” — a clear reference to Trump. The problem for the Kochs and other donors is that the former president is still the favorite candidate among grassroots Republicans. Could they somehow derail his campaign by stuffing primaries with anti-Trump voters?

It’s possible; the memo focuses accurately on the small number of people who vote in primaries, so it wouldn’t take much to crowbar another candidate into the nomination. Trump isn’t likely to take that lying down, though. His only real rival with the GOP base is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who hasn’t even declared his candidacy. If rich donors impose a candidate Republican voters don’t want, it’s unlikely to end well.