It explores how the brothers moved from a position of keeping a distance from mainstream politics - in 1980, David stood as the Libertarian party candidate to be vice-president of the US - to close involvement. It outlines the family’s history including a guilt-by-association revelation that the brothers’ father Fred, the founder of the dynasty, had business links with Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union. In practice, this has meant supporting candidates who are on what could be defined as the radical right of the Republican party.ĭemonstrators in New York protested in 2014 against the Koch's Republican Party contributions © Gettyĭark Money is for those who want more detail. In recent years, the brothers have come to play a more central role in influencing US electoral politics. Mayer dubs this network the “Kochtopus” to describe its many-tentacled approach. Indeed, in outline at least, much of it is uncontentious: the Koch brothers are fabulously wealthy (about $43bn each, according to the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires) they have long used part of their wealth to support think-tanks and they have close connections with like-minded billionaires. No doubt most if not all of what Mayer says is true.
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