'Participation trophy': Koch anti-Trump effort decried as 'exercise in political delusion'

29 November 2023

Republican billionaire Charles Koch and his Americans for Prosperity (AFP) group have made it clear that they don't want frontrunner Donald Trump to receive the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. On Tuesday, November 28, AFP announced that they plan to throw their resources behind former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who they view as the Republican presidential hopeful in "the best position to defeat Donald Trump in the primaries."

That's a tall order. Countless polls are showing Trump with huge leads over Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The Nation's Joan Walsh isn't impressed with AFP's anti-Trump efforts. In a biting article published on November 29, Walsh slams AFP's pro-Haley fundraising campaign as too little too late.

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?

"On Tuesday," Walsh observes, "(Haley) notched another symbolic win: an endorsement from Americans for Prosperity Action, the Koch-founded network that promises to put money and muscle behind her candidacy…. But is the endorsement the political equivalent of a participation trophy, bestowed on someone who worked hard while losing? Probably…. It's hard to imagine her beating Trump."

The liberal journalist continues, "It feels like another exercise in political delusion: a powerful mainstream Republican force pretending Trump doesn't control the party."

Walsh argues that both AFP and Haley were enablers of Trumpism and the MAGA movement.

"There's also deep irony here," Walsh writes. "As the major financial and political force behind the reactionary, anti-Obama Tea Party movement, AFP helped create Trump, the man it is now trying to defeat…. AFP deserves part of the blame for Trump's taking over its party…. (Haley) was herself a Tea Party–backed underdog when she was elected governor…. AFP and Haley brought this nightmare on themselves, and on the rest of us."

Joan Walsh's full article for The Nation is available at this link.

From Your Site Articles