Charles Koch Institute released a poll to indicate that a “Majority Believe US Foreign Policy Has Made America Less Safe Over Last 15 Years. Over half of Americans believe the military should be used less overseas during next administration.” Charles Koch is one of the so-called Koch brothers, Charles and David, known to be some of the biggest creators and funding families of think tanks. From the study:
Only 14 percent of registered voters in the United States believe the country’s foreign policy has made them safer since 2001, according to a poll of 1,000 Americans released today by the Charles Koch Institute and the Center for the National Interest. More than half believe that both the U.S. and the rest of the world are less safe today as a result of the nation’s foreign policy choices over the last 15 years.
Likewise, only 25 percent of American voters feel the next president should expand the use of military abroad, while over half feel that the next administration should use the military less than it has been used since 2001.
This is the only article at the website of Charles Koch Institute providing a poll. The entire news section of the site is just a few pages — not many news articles are there either. But with the presidential election close at hand, a poll suddenly appears.
Throughout its vast network of think tanks and “charitable” operations, Koch brothers are well known to promote Republican causes. Koch brothers feed the media with well-funded “experts” and papers from their many organizations including “libertarian” CATO Institute and Heritage Foundation. Koch brothers also provide “dark money” funding for Republican campaigns.
In 2016, Koch brothers declared that they would not fund Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. As a result, overall campaign funding in the 2016 election cycle dropped.
But Donald Trump is popular for speaking out against wars — particularly the 2003 Iraq war and the 2011 Libya war. In legendary moments during the 2016 Republican primary debates, Donald Trump called out rival Jeb Bush for the Iraq war “mistake.” Jeb Bush is the brother of George W. Bush whose administration escalated the Iraq war after a series of lies about weapons of mass destruction or WMDs. Jeb Bush signed the policy document that promoted such wars.
Right before the election, this poll comes out. Conveniently, it points to an issue favoring Donald Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton. If the long partisan political history of the Koch brothers is any guide, this novel new article was put out for a political purpose — to make Donald Trump look good without having to flip-flop at the last minute on refusing to support Donald Trump.
While this may seem cynical at first, there is quite an undertow that makes this poll release dubious: neither Donald Trump nor the Koch brothers oppose wars. They love wars.
As pointed out in a Web Line News list of 10 reasons Donald Trump reeks of war, “Donald Trump was for the Libya war before he was against it.” As pointed out by The Intercept reporter Lee Fang, “Donald Trump’s main benefactors are now neocon, pro-war billionaires, if you look at disclosure records for the big Trump SuperPACs.” Donald Trump’s pro-war history and pro-war connections have become known — and probably are now understood by the Koch brothers.
And the Koch brothers actually like war themselves, contrary to the libertarian branding. For example, Koch brothers fund American Enterprise Institute (AEI). This so-called free market organization has picked up the ball from the now defunct Project for a New American Century (PNAC). AEI literally took the writers of the Bush agenda to write the new neocon war policy document for 2016 — with Koch funding.
Donald Trump wants war. Koch brothers want war. They are a perfect match. Charles Koch may just be realizing this now — he was fooled by the rhetoric. This poll is a last-ditch effort to both save face and to push Donald Trump by stealth. It makes perfect sense.
Finally, if the Koch brothers polling methods are anything like their understanding of economics, this poll is to be viewed with suspicion too.