Last August, Trump, who is financing his own campaign, took to Twitter to denounce the Republican candidates then vying for the top job, including former Gov. Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio, who attended a Koch brothers’ retreat, where elite conservative donors gather. Trump wasn’t invited. "I wish good luck to all of the Republican candidates that traveled to California to beg for money etc. from the Koch Brothers. Puppets?" Trump blasted in a tweet On Sunday, Ted Cruz was also in Charles Koch’s line of fire , because of his comments about indiscriminately "carpet-bombing" ISIS and the Middle East. "That's gotta be hyperbole, but I mean that a candidate — whether they believe it or not — would think that appeals to the American people," Koch told ABC. "This is frightening," he added.Vogel, who is also the author of Big Money , said the Kochs, "Do figure to play a huge role in the fight for control of Congress, which many conservatives see as critically important to limiting the possible down-ballot losses that could come with Trump at the top of the ticket."The Kochs have pledged to try to raise $900 million on ​issues surrounding the election and other campaigns in 2016 — more than twice the amount the Republican national committee spent in the last presidential election, according to study The Koch Effect by Theda Skocpol and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, two Harvard scholars.The Koch brothers are “pro-business” and believe in smaller government and economic freedom, meaning they oppose regulations and stand for lower taxes. Policy influence is focused on budget, energy, health care, taxes, labor, education, fiscal services, and technology, according to research by the Harvard scholars.

The two men have also supported climate-change deniers and groups “The Koch brothers' most significant impact on American politics has been steering the Republican Party to the right on fiscal and regulatory issues, encouraging a more limited view of government's role in society,” Vogel said.“Their ability to influence how others think is enhanced by the awful Citizens United decision, which ignores the vast history of how money corrupts politics, something well documented all the way back to the ancient world,” Johnston told Refinery29 via email.