Charles and David Koch, the billionaire libertarian-ish brothers and longtime Republican Party patrons, never did like Donald Trump. During the 2016 election, they refused to contribute to Trump’s candidacy, noting that they would instead spend their $300 million to prop up Republican candidates in local races. They remained aloof throughout 2017, with Charles suggesting that Trump’s Muslim ban was reminiscent of Nazi-era racism, and both brothers implying that they would wait it out before backing Trump, who had begun to rail about tariffs. “We’re principled, and if we can’t get comfortable with the policies that are in place, then we’re not going to support them,” said Mark Holden, Koch Industries’s top lawyer. Though they made several attempts to influence the White House’s policy through their connections with top figures like Mike Pence, the president’s recent gesture toward a trade war with China represented a proverbial final straw. “From the beginning we've said that tariffs and protectionism is a bad idea,” Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity, the Kochs’ political organization, told CNBC. “[The White House has] explained their reasoning behind it and we just strongly disagree.” 
 
 Even then, the Kochs still hoped to push their agenda through Congress, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to individual representatives and Republican fund-raising groups, and announcing that they would spend up to $400 million to defend their control. But on Sunday, during an annual seminar with roughly 500 top conservative donors, Americans for Prosperity announced it would no longer solely support Republican candidates, formalizing a visible schism within the G.O.P.’s donor class. As Charles Koch put it to reporters, “I don’t care what initials are in front or after somebody’s name.” His comments seemed like a foregone conclusion following several Kochworld attacks on the Trump administration’s policies over the weekend, with the brothers and their spokespeople flaming the White House left and right. “It’s a bail-out to bad policy,” Koch network spokesperson James Davis told reporters of the administration’s announcement that it would spend $12 billion to relieve farmers impacted by its trade war. “You can’t make this up. We put tariffs supposedly to put pressure on China and then it actually hurts farmers here. Crops waste away in the field. Then you pull a Depression-era program out to bail out farmers and make them whole. But who’s underwriting our debt?” Another Koch official lamented that the “divisiveness of this White House is causing long-term damage.” Koch himself called Trump’s tariffs “unfair to the people.” 
 
 “I know this is uncomfortable,” said Emily Seidel, the C.E.O. of Americans for Prosperity, during a speech. “If you are a Democrat and stand up to [Senator] Elizabeth Warren ”—the regulatory-allergic Kochs’ ultimate progressive boogeyman—“to corral enough votes for financial reform that breaks barriers for community banks and families, you’re darn right we will work with you. . . . If you are a Republican who sits on the committee that wrote the worst spending bill in our country’s history and you voted for it, you’re darn right we will hold you accountable.” 
 
 The Kochs’s hostility toward Trump isn’t new, though their rhetoric seems to mark a turning point. A.F.P. has been subtly instigating this agenda for months, running a not insignificant volume of ads blasting Republicans for voting in favor of Trump’s controversial trillion-dollar spending package, and going out of their way to advertise in support of Democrats who embrace their agenda, such as North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, who voted to roll back Dodd-Frank regulations on community banks. (Heitkamp, incidentally, faces a tough race in a vulnerable seat this year.) Perhaps the brothers Koch hoped that overtly voicing their objections would lure some Republicans back into the free-market fold, thereby preserving their Congressional majorities. 
 
 Whatever their motivation, Trump loyalists were not pleased. “It’s wrong, it’s stupid and it shows contempt for the hardworking grassroots folks that delivered the victory that got your tax cut,” Steve Bannon, former chairman of the ardently pro-Trump Web site Breitbart News, immediately told Politico. “Charles Koch is a good man, but 100 days before an election that will determine the direction of the country is not the time to tell us that you are prepared to work with Democrats that support parts of your progressive agenda,” he added. “What they have to do is shut up and get with the program . . . And here’s the program: ground game to support Trump’s presidency and program, [and] victory on November 6.” 
 
 It’s possible that Bannon, who is in the midst of his own populist comeback campaign in Europe, is overreacting. After all, the Koch camp is still spending massive amounts to keep Republicans in power post-2018 midterms—if the G.O.P. retains control of Congress, it will by default be pushing a Trumpian agenda. It could be that the Kochs’ willingness to speak out against the White House’s trade policy, then, is more to assuage their consciences than to damage the president. But it certainly sets them apart from Trump’s rabid isolationist base, lending credence to Republican fears that Trump’s trade war, which is already dinging American businesses and costing American consumers, may come home to roost among Republican voters. ||||| The political donation network backed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch will essentially sit out this year's presidential election and focus on keeping the Senate in Republican hands. 
 
 When Charles Koch addressed hundreds of the nation's most powerful polical donors at a weekend retreat in Colorado Springs Saturday, he lamented the choice in the race for the Oval Office between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. 
 
 "We don't really, in some cases, don't really have good options," Koch said in describing the "current political situation." 
 
 Mark Holden, general counsel and senior vice president of Koch Industries, told the Associated Press that the Koch network won't spend anything to help Trump directly in 2016, even though it may evoke Clinton in attacks on Democratic congressional candidates. 
 
 None of the presidential candidates are aligned with the Koch network "from a values, and beliefs and policy perspective," Holden said, citing other determining factors such as "running a good campaign" and talking about key issues "in a positive productive way." 
 
 
 
 "Based on that, we're focused on the Senate," Holden said, noting that the Koch network has devoted around $42 million so far to television and digital advertising to benefit Republican Senate candidates. 
 
 
 
 Saturday was the first day of the three-day gathering for donors who promise to give at least $100,000 each year to the various groups backed by the Koch brothers' Freedom Partners -- a network of education, policy and political entities that aim to promote a smaller, less intrusive government. 
 
 
 
 At least three governors, four senators and four members of the House of Representatives are also scheduled to attend, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. Republican presidential candidates have been featured at past Koch gatherings -- but not this one. 
 
 
 
 Neither Trump nor any Trump representatives participated in the event, even though the White House contender campaigned in the same city the day before. It's unclear if Trump was invited. 
 
 
 
 "I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch," Trump tweeted on Saturday. "Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!" 
 
 
 
 Holden declined to say whether the Kochs sought a meeting with Trump. 
 
 
 
 The weekend's agenda for the estimated 400 donors gathered in Colorado Springs featured a series of policy discussions and appearances from several elected officials in addition to Ryan: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas. Rep Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado. 
 
 
 
 Speaking Saturday night, Gardner addressed the presidential contest indirectly, although he did not mention Trump's name. 
 
 
 
 "Forty years worth of Supreme Court justices are going to be determined this November," Gardner told donors, a reference to the next president's ability to fill at least one existing vacancy on the high court. 
 
 
 
 Yet Koch later told his guests that America's frustrated electorate is looking at the wrong place -- politicians -- for answers. 
 
 
 
 "And to me, the answers they're getting are frightening," he said without naming any politicians, "because by and large, these answers will make matters worse." 
 
 
 
 Charles and David Koch have hosted such gatherings of donors and politicians for years, but usually in private. The weekend's event includes a small number of reporters, including one from the Associated Press. 
 
 
 
 Koch has put the network's budget at roughly $750 million through the end of 2016. 
 
 
 
 A significant portion was supposed to be directed at electing a Republican to the White House. It will instead go to helping Republican Senate candidates in at least five states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and Florida, Holden said. 
 
 
 
 In some cases, the network may try to link Democratic Senate candidates to Clinton, he added, but there are no plans to go after her exclusively in paid advertising. The organization may invest in a handful of races for governor and House of Representatives as well. 
 
 
 
 And while the network will not be a Trump ally, it won't necessarily be a Trump adversary either. 
 
 "We have no intention to go after Donald Trump," Holden said. 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report.
– Charles and David Koch are officially sitting on their wallets when it comes to the candidacy of one Donald J. Trump, reports Fox News, with Charles Koch telling a gathering of conservative elites Saturday in Colorado that "We don't really, in some cases, don't really have good options" in the "current political situation." That translates to zero Koch dollars for the Republican nominee, a Koch rep says, given that no presidential candidates lined up from "a values, and beliefs and policy perspective. Based on that, we're focused on the Senate," he says, noting that Koch Industries has thus far dropped $42 million on advertising for GOP Senate candidates. Trump responded to the slight via Twitter, saying, "I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch. Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!" The Kochs' decision doesn't mean they'll use their money to undermine Trump, however. "We have no intention to go after Donald Trump," their rep tells the AP. But with a war chest that he says is about $750 million—of which a significant chunk was to go toward re-taking the Oval Office from the Democrats—it's still a financial blow to Trump and windfall for Senate Republicans.