Trump and the Kochs -- working in concert

[septimus]

Thomas Edsall’s latest column in The New York Times is a must-read. Here are a few excerpts:

President Trump and the Koch brothers have made it clear that they don’t like each other. Politically speaking, they are in fundamental disagreement over trade, tariffs and immigration.

Nonetheless, there is a functional Trump-Koch alliance, and the Republican Party has capitalized handsomely on it. Trump’s racially freighted, anti-immigrant rhetoric has been essential to persuading white voters to agree to Republicans’ long-sought tax and regulatory policies. These policies are inimical or irrelevant to the interests of low- and moderate-income Americans. They have been promulgated by the Trump administration, but many of them have been meticulously prepared and packaged by the Kochs’ massive political network.

Edited by Jonathan Chance.

Looking toward November, the Koch organizations are already committed to attacking incumbent Democratic Senators in Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri and Florida while looking at their chance of influencing the outcome in as many as 14 other races. In addition, the network plans to support Republican candidates for governor in Nevada, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Florida, a list that is expected to grow longer as the midterms heat up.

At another level, few politicians in American history have been as resourceful as Trump in ginning up white resentment and focusing the resulting anger directly on Democrats, liberals and minorities. From MS-13 gangs, to kneeling professional football players and the recent death of Mollie Tibbetts, nothing is out of bounds even the pleas of Tibbetts’s father that Trump stop politicizing her murder.

[Jonathan_Chance]

Two things…

1. First, posting a sentence, a link and a quote is not best practices. Share some thoughts would be better.

2. Keep the quote feature under a bit more control. No warning, but we’d like to maintain limited pulls.

[foolsguinea]

So, the GOP keeps doing what it’s been doing for decades. Remember when Steve Bannon thought he could change them?

[Chronos]

Next you’ll be telling us that Francis is working in concert with the Vatican.

[septimus]

@Chronos

Next you’ll be telling us that Francis is working in concert with the Vatican.

Sometimes the GOP schism is portrayed as between the anti-trade, anti-immigrant Trumpists and Big Business. I thought it worth emphasizing that the kleptocrats are as happy with Trump as maggots in a pile of shit. But go ahead, laugh at the messenger instead of listening to the message. I’m used to it.

Reluctance to express my own opinions is not one of my faults, but the Edsall column was quite well-argued and to the point. Using a per-word calculus, I saw no way to replace any of his words with my own and add value.

But then I keep thinking we’re here to fight ignorance. I forget that we’re here to relive our salad days in the junior high school debating club!

[elucidator]

I’ve heard that you can’t be a mod on the SDMB unless you can prove you were in both the Debate Squad and the AV Club, simultaneously. The nerd equivalent of canonization.

[John_Mace]

@septimus

Sometimes the GOP schism is portrayed as between the anti-trade, anti-immigrant Trumpists and Big Business. I thought it worth emphasizing that the kleptocrats are as happy with Trump as maggots in a pile of shit.

The opinion piece you linked to doesn’t show that. It just shows that the Kochs prefer Trump over the Democrats, which is the real choice being made. That financial donors will continue to support politicians they don’t agree with 100% is not surprising, and the Kochs are smart enough to back a winner over a loser if that is the choice in presidential politics. Much of what your article talks about, though, is support for Republican Congress-critters, which again should not be surprising.

[foolsguinea]

I’m not laughing at you, septimus. I’m not even laughing at “economic nationalist” Steve Bannon, who in his arrogance thought he could remake a party that had crushed better, smarter internal opposition than he and the alt-right could put up. I’m sighing. The young punks aren’t going to change them from their ecologically and socially destructive course, and neither are any of us if we play entryist.