With Koch Brothers U, Conservatives Settle In for Long War

The rise of Donald J. Trump, with his hostility toward free trade and vow to protect entitlements, is a sharp rebuke to the free-market principles long championed by the billionaire brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch.

But if the Koch brothers have lost the battle for conservative values in 2016, they are also quietly preparing for a long war.

Their secret weapon is the Grassroots Leadership Academy: a training program dreamed up by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the political education arm of the Koch network, and intended to groom the next generation of conservative activists to shape the future of the Republican Party.

Taking inspiration from icons of the left like Saul Alinsky, the Marxist-inspired Frankfurt School, and even President Obama’s Organizing for Action, the academy offers classes like “Messaging to the Middle” (about reaching not just the conservative base but also persuadable voters), community organizing and how to wage a successful public protest, complete with costumes.

The goal is not just to equip activists to compete with the left, but also to help rebuild the conservative movement in the wake of a Trump loss — or even a Trump victory.

The Kochs will be key figures in any discussion about what direction the party takes after 2016, and they are determined to steer it toward their free-market vision. A band of trained volunteers focused on elections further down the ballot could help raise their standing for 2018 and beyond.

What is so deceptive with these so called pure conservatives is that they have been given many chances over the years but either lost elections or otherwise failed our country time and again. Now, they do not want to give Trump a chance. This means they do not want him to fix the problems because the problems Americans have are the same ones advancing their personal financial interests. They want to pretend there is only one way, their way, which is to advance the globalist policies of the past. They do not want to make decisions that place American interests first. No, they are only oriented toward advancing the interests of the global corporatists. The truth is they are not on our side, they are not our friends, they are the enemy in sheep’s clothes and Trump has flushed them out in the open for all to see.

Here is a quick syllabus I downloaded from their course schedule:

GLA 101: It's Economics 101! The universal answer to all criticism of freemarketeer propaganda.

GLA 102: A Tariff is just a Tax. Explains how tariffs are just a tax on consumers; minorities, women, and children hardest hit.

GLA 103: Pass it On. Detailed explanation of how to counter arguments for changes to laws that protect crony capitalists. When to say "They'll just pass it on as a price increase", or "as a wage decrease" or as a "dividend decrease" depending on the time of day, temperature, and humidity.

GLA 201: Shilling for Dollars. How to appear to be a principled supporter of free markets while advancing the agenda of crony capitalists.

GLA 202: Communism and Libertarianism: Brothers in arms. Explains how since both pure communism and pure libertarianism are utopian fictions they can be used to advance any policy objective desired.

GLA 301: Advanced Tanking. How to create your own think tank that appears to be a supporter of free markets. How to get funding from specific industries or countries such as Saudi Arabia. What percentage of your think tank's output needs to be generic freemarketeering propaganda and how much you can devote to advancing the secret agendas of your financiers.

More to come as the GLA's positions coagulate.

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