Koch-Linked Group Reportedly Raised Over $70 Million to Bring Down Trump
AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
As former President Donald Trump continues to lead the 2024 GOP presidential primary, Republican mega-donors have raised more than $70 million aimed at putting an end to his influence. The New York Times reported on Thursday that the “political network established by the conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch” raised the eye-popping sum ahead of its decision to work to actively influence the GOP presidential primary for the time in its 20 years.
“The network spent nearly $500 million supporting Republican candidates and conservative policies in the 2020 election cycle alone,” the Times wrote of Americans for Prosperity Action adding this cycle will be the first time it “throws its weight into” the primary – with the aim of stopping Trump.
The latest YouGov/Economist poll of the field has Trump leading Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) 52% to 25% – a 27-point margin.
“Two groups closely affiliated with Charles Koch contributed $50 million of the more than $70 million that has been raised,” reported the Times article by Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, and Shane Goldmacher. The article added:
The Koch Network’s goal in the 2024 presidential primaries, which has been described only indirectly in written internal communications, is to stop Mr. Trump from winning the Republican nomination. In February, a top political official in the network, Emily Seidel, wrote a memo to donors and activists saying it was time to ‘have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter.’
Trump has already taken aim at the GOP-mega donors, posting in February on his Truth Social, “They’re all Globalist and Pro China Losers. Fought me in 2016 and lost big. They are all bad for the USA—America Last!”
Trump shared an article in the post in which his former campaign manager and adviser, Steve Bannon, slammed the Kochs in response to Seidel releasing a memo saying Americans for Prosperity were looking to move on from Trumpism.
