While Everyone Else Was Busy Arguing About A Book, The Koch Brothers Expand Their Influence In Trump’s White House
Top Koch Lieutenant Spearheading Trump’s Infrastructure Push
Trump dispatched his minions to attack “the book” and he spent the weekend at Camp David, surrounded by supportive Republicans, there to discuss his 2018 legislative agenda. Roll Call has a pretty good summary of everything that was on the table.
We’ve all heard just about enough about Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” by now, so just a few new things that bubbled up:
- Trump Tweeted that “Sloppy” Steve Bannon “cried when he got fired and begged for his job.” This was a nice touch. (We also tend to believe it’s true, since the other guy Trump once accused of crying, Chuck Schumer, did cry).
- We also liked when Trump said “That is what I do, is I do things proper”. That was in response to the New York Times story we told you about Friday in which Trump was said to have ordered Chief White House Counsel Donald McGahn to talk Attorney General Jeff Sessions out of recusing himself from the Russia investigation. The President didn’t exactly deny the Times article, just saying “it’s way off, or at least off”. When asked what he meant by that he replied “You’ll find out.” Which means we won’t.
- Bannon issued an apology he’d originally considered before Trump ripped him apart, saying when he referred to participants in the Trump Tower meeting with Russians as “unpatriotic” and “treasonous” he meant Paul Manafort, not Trump, Jr. Which is nonsense, since he also said “They’re going to crack Don Jr. like an egg on national TV”, and he certainly isn’t talking about Manafort there…
- Trump adviser Stephen Miller appeared on CNN, where he derided Bannon, once one of his closest allies, then pretended to be aghast and offended when accused of “playing to an audience of 1”, for which Trump, moments later on Twitter gave him a “great review”.
Looking ahead, what is clear is that infrastructure is at the top of Trump’s mind for 2018. A year in which Republicans can’t do too many things people hate, since every single member of the House of Representatives is up for reelection. Infrastructure spending is usually popular. Certainly more popular than the deep cuts in Social Security and Medicare Paul Ryan wants to do. But the White House’s plan is more than a bit muddy, with the President’s chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, saying it will be done through public-private partnerships, but Trump saying it probably will not.
Public-private partnerships generally involve the government putting up a little bit of money for a construction project, thereby reducing risk, making it more likely private companies might also get involved. Once completed, the private company then shares in the profits (either through tolls, or rent, or fees depending on whether it’s for a road or tunnel, convention center or arena, or airport or train station).
What is clear is a top Koch Lieutenant will be spearheading Trump’s Infrastructure push. He’s D.J. Gribbin, special assistant to the President, and former executive in the Koch organization, where he worked for them on expanding (guess what?) public-private partnerships. (As we’ve told you before, Trump’s lead negotiator with Congress on all legislative affairs, Marc Short, is another high ranking White House staffer plucked from Koch.)
Of course many Conservatives have ties to Koch, but it’s interesting to watch their influence increasing since the brothers initially did not support Trump. Charles Koch famously said of the 2016 election: “If I had to vote for cancer or a heart attack, why would I vote for either?”
Perhaps now that they’ve seen Trump will sign any piece of legislation the Republican Congress puts in front of him — he’s just in it for the “wins” — their thinking has shifted a bit. Which actually might be good for immigration reform (particularly the continuation of DACA) which the Koch’s have supported. They need reliable low-wage workers for their many expanding business ventures.
(This story originally appeared in “The Chaos Report” Newsletter. Subscribe at https://thechaosreport.com/subscribe/?scr=Medium)
