After mocking the Kochs puppets, Trump huddles with David Koch

[applegrove]

After mocking the Kochs’ ‘puppets,’ Trump huddles with David Koch

By Steve Benen at MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/after-mocking-the-kochs-puppets-trump-huddles-david-koch

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At the first blush, the Washington Post’s report about Donald Trump huddling with David Koch might not seem especially noteworthy. And while a billionaire Republican president elect is widely expected to visit with a billionaire Republican megadonor, there’s a broader context to this story that’s worth appreciating.

President-elect Donald Trump had a private exchange Wednesday night with billionaire industrialist David Koch, with whom he clashed during the 2016 presidential race and whose conservative policy objectives have often diverged from Trump’s agenda.

The huddle at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., was witnessed by several people and orchestrated by Trump’s friend, Newsmax chief executive Christopher Ruddy, according to two Trump associates familiar with the conversation.

In July 2015, as a variety of Republican presidential candidates headed to California in the hopes of impressing the Koch brothers, Trump said via Twitter that he likes the Koch brothers, but he didn’t want “their money or anything else from them.” A few days later, Trump added that his GOP rivals were acting like the Kochs’ “puppets.”



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