The conservative, libertarian, free-trade organization Americans for Prosperity, led by billionaire businessman Charles Koch, does not want Donald Trump to be the GOP nominee in 2024. Today Emily Seidel, the CEO of Americans for Prosperity, released a memo on the subject. Trump is not mentioned, but the message is clear.
Here is a taste of the memo:
But while we’ve seen tremendous success in achieving big policy wins in the states, broken politics today are producing a toxic situation in Washington, DC making it impossible to see the kind of progress on public policy at the federal level that Americans need.
Here’s the hard truth as I see it:
• The Republican Party is nominating bad candidates who are advocating for things that go against core American principles. And the American people are rejecting them.
• The Democratic Party increasingly sees this as a political opportunity. And they’re responding with more and more extreme policies – policies that also go against our core American principles.
This means the country is in a downward spiral, with both parties reinforcing the bad behavior of the other.
And to make matters worse, very few voters participate in primaries – and that’s where these candidates are chosen. This makes it impossible to get good things done in Washington. And things are likely to get worse before they get better.
When you understand the landscape this way, it’s clear: Our country must move past the current political situation – we’ve got to turn the page on the past several years.
We believe we have the opportunity to make a major difference for the future of our country.
Lots of people are frustrated. But very few people are in a position to do something about it. AFP is. Now is the time to rise to the occasion.
So, here’s what we learned from 2022 and what we plan to do about it.
First – If we want to elect better people, we need better candidates. And if we want better candidates, we’ve got to get involved in elections earlier and in more primaries.
Last year, AFP and AFP Action engaged in 22 primaries at the federal level and nearly 200 more in the states. This was more than in any previous year. We won more than 80% of those races – and when we engaged in the primary, our candidate was much more likely to win the general, than when we didn’t.
This was a test for whether our grassroots and data capabilities can make a significant difference in primaries. We learned that they can. So, in 2024, AFP and AFP Action will get engaged in more primaries at every level of office.
The second lesson from 2022 is that the loudest voice in each political party sets the tone for the entire election. In a presidential year, that’s the presidential candidate.
And to write a new chapter for our country, we need to turn the page on the past. So the best thing for the country would be to have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter. The American people have shown that they’re ready to move on, and so AFP will help them do that.
It looks like the Democrats have already chosen their path for the presidential – so there’s no opportunity to have a positive impact there.
But AFP Action is prepared to support a candidate in the Republican presidential primary who can lead our country forward, and who can win.
When we look back at the investments we’ve made over the last 20 years, this is a moment we’ve been building towards. The states with some of our strongest and most effective state chapters are the same ones that will play a crucial role in nominating the next Republican presidential candidate. In fact, key presidential states, key Senate states, and states with strong AFP chapters line up nearly one-to-one. No one is better positioned to engage and mobilize people across those states than we are. And because our teams are already in those states right now, working to improve public policy, talking to voters – we can get an early jump on this.
Read the entire memo here. Check out Isaac Arnsdorf’s Washington Post piece for more context.
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