"The Kochs might have disavowed Trump, but in several important respects he was their natural heir."
"The Kochs might have disavowed Trump, but in several important respects he was their natural heir and the unintended consequence of the extraordinary political movement they had underwritten since the 1970s. For forty years, they had vilified the very idea of government. They had propagated that message through the countless think tanks, academic programs, front groups, ad campaigns, legal organizations, lobbyists, and candidates they supported. It was hard not to believe that this had helped set the table for the takeover of the world’s most powerful country by a man who made his inexperience and antipathy toward governing among his top selling points."
- from the Preface to the 2017 edition of
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer.
PS: Read Mayer's book, if you haven't yet, and do it ASAP. It will shake you to the core, and damage or destroy any beliefs you might (still) have about American democracy, equality, opportunity, fairness, or justice to the core. And that is PAINFUL, but it is necessary to face the cold-blooded truth about where we are - and where we're still going.
