Charles Koch is “Committed” to Another Failed Investment in Paul Ryan

By: Meredith Kelly

Shortly after POLITICO reported that national Republicans are laughably floating failed 2012 Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan as a “fresh face” to get the GOP presidential nomination through a splintered, brokered convention in July, a follow up from Huffington Post named one of the Republican elites pushing the far-fetched plan: extreme Conservative billionaire Charles Koch.

While the report may seem unsurprising at first blush – the self-interested billionaire Koch brothers shelled out big bucks to spin the Ryan budget’s tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, and in support of Ryan and Romney’s failed 2012 bid – it boggles the mind why such a purportedly savvy investor and businessman would be so “committed” to another losing prospect. Despite the Kochs pouring in nearly $400 million in support of Republicans in 2012, voters soundly rejected the GOP presidential ticket, in large part because of Paul Ryan’s harsh, unpopular budget scheme.

Four years later, Charles Koch appears eager to once again waste his largess on the hopes that Paul Ryan would win in November, in the face of overwhelming evidence that such a plan would irreparably fracture the Republican Party and despite the fact that Ryan was the subject of millions of dollars of TV ads in 2012 showing voters his reckless, irresponsible positions on key issues. Nothing about Ryan’s negatives and his extreme Conservative record has changed since 2012, save for the fact that Ryan is now at the helm of the wildly unpopular Republican-led House of Representatives, an especial liability in a Republican primary electorate that is clearly rejecting the Washington establishment.

Said Christie Stephenson of the DCCC: “The Koch brothers put their bottom line above all else, so with an assist from @realDonaldTrump, here’s the bottom line on Charles Koch’s scheme to get Paul Ryan nominated in Cleveland: ‘don’t do it – bad investment!’”