Well, add one more Lying Republican Billionaire to the list.
Charles Koch, 85, CEO of Koch Industries, now claims he wants to "help heal the nation" after spending years and untold billions throwing gasoline on the fires of division in America.
After Pouring Gasoline On U.S. Divide, Charles Koch Now Claims He Wants To Heal Nation
By Mary Papenfuss 11/13/2020 08:17 pm ET
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/charles-koch-wall-street-journal-change-of-heart_n_5faf0af0c5b6d05e86e6e743
"After spending decades bankrolling causes and politicians that fueled America’s increasingly ugly and hostile national divide, billionaire mogul Charles Koch told The Wall Street Journal in an interview Friday that he now wants to focus on bridging the gap he helped create.
“Boy, did we screw up. What a mess,” is how the Donald Trump supporter characterizes his partisan battles in his soon-to-be-published book, “Believe in People: Bottom-Up Solutions for a Top-Down World,” the Journal noted.
"Now Koch claims he wants to work across party lines to forge solutions to poverty, addiction, gang violence and homelessness, he told the newspaper."
Not before now, but right now, he wants to "forge solutions to poverty, addiction, gang violence and homelessness".
What utter nonsense. He couldn't give even half a rat's ass about these people before now, instead insisting on trying to play king-maker. So now he has a book to sell, and probably realizes that no one is going to take it seriously, and so puts out the idea that he's had a change of heart. Nuh-uh. NOT buying it.
So add him to the list of Lying Republican Billionaires, which is, you know, ALL of them.
@suzianne saidJesus, this partisan bitterness is too much:
Well, add one more Lying Republican Billionaire to the list.
Charles Koch, 85, CEO of Koch Industries, now claims he wants to "help heal the nation" after spending years and untold billions throwing gasoline on the fires of division in America.
After Pouring Gasoline On U.S. Divide, Charles Koch Now Claims He Wants To Heal Nation
By Mary Papenfuss 11/13/2020 08:17 pm ...[text shortened]... ing it.
So add him to the list of Lying Republican Billionaires, which is, you know, ALL of them.
"Now Koch claims he wants to work across party lines to forge solutions to poverty, addiction, gang violence and homelessness, he told the newspaper.
In an email to the Journal, Koch also congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory. He said he looked forward to “finding ways to work with them to break down the barriers holding people back, whether in the economy, criminal justice, immigration, the COVID-19 pandemic, or anywhere else.”
He added: “I hope we all use this post-election period to find a better way forward. Because of partisanship, we’ve come to expect too much of politics and too little of ourselves and one another.”
What's there to lose if Biden and the Democrats try to work with people like Koch?
@no1marauder saidThat's a naïve statement given his history of funding hard-right, anti-climate change initiatives, and funded people who actively tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
What's there to lose if Biden and the Democrats try to work with people like Koch?
Koch obviously wants to influence the Democratic party toward his self-serving initiatives. How does someone who fought to take away health care want people to "heal"?
There's nothing wrong with Dems working with Reps; but that doesn't mean they should throw common sense out the window. Why not accept help from Rupert Murdoch or the fossil-fuel industry while you're at it?
@lemondrop saidAn 85 year old man doesn't change after one election. If he wants to help Democrats he needs to support causes like fighting climate change, which he has been instrumental in stopping.
sometimes people change
sometimes a lot
I agree
work with them
@sonhouse saidTo "roll the dice" means you're taking a gamble. Do you want to gamble on someone who actively promoted the exact opposite of everything you stand for?
@vivify
We don't have much choice, we have to roll the dice and see if he actually helps out or instead sticking to his old play set.
Do we just pretend that decades of Koch Bros-funded conservative destruction never happened? Why, because he now claims he changed his mind?
@vivify saidPossibly the best way to dismantle the radical conservative machine is to show their leader humbly defecting to the other side.
To "roll the dice" means you're taking a gamble. Do you want to gamble on someone who actively promoted the exact opposite of everything you stand for?
Do we just pretend the last several decades of the Koch Bros-funded conservative mess just didn't exist? Why, because he now claims he changed his mind?
He's very old - maybe he's trying to save his soul.
@athousandyoung saidI'm all for it if that is in fact what is happening. But is entirely incumbent on Koch to prove he has indeed changed; Dems are under no obligation to just believe he has merely because he says he did.
Possibly the best way to dismantle the radical conservative machine is to show their leader humbly defecting to the other side.
He's very old - maybe he's trying to save his soul.
@vivify saidWhy not accept help from Murdoch and/or the fossil fuel industry IF it will help achieve your goals?
That's a naïve statement given his history of funding hard-right, anti-climate change initiatives, and funded people who actively tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Koch obviously wants to influence the Democratic party toward his self-serving initiatives. How does someone who fought to take away health care want people to "heal"?
There's nothing wrong with D ...[text shortened]... the window. Why not accept help from Rupert Murdoch or the fossil-fuel industry while you're at it?
These aren't Nazis; they're people who have taken contrary political positions.
@vivify saidUnlike most even mainstream Republicans, he was willing to congratulate Biden on his win. That shows at least some flexibility.
I'm all for it if that is in fact what is happening. But is entirely incumbent on Koch to prove he has indeed changed; Dems are under no obligation to just believe he has merely because he says he did.
@no1marauder saidThat's a good start but they're still words from a crafty businessman with a record of putting his own desires ahead of the American public.
Unlike most even mainstream Republicans, he was willing to congratulate Biden on his win. That shows at least some flexibility.
If Dems insist on accepting his help, they better be wary.
@vivify said"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer".
That's a good start but they're still words from a crafty businessman with a record of putting his own desires ahead of the American public.
If Dems insist on accepting his help, they better be wary.
Michael Corleone