People are aware that Erika Calihan and her Astroturf group (does it even count as a group if it mostly exists on Facebook and the imagination?) organized a protest at the State Capitol April 15; many suspect that Matt “Governor Nitwit” Bevin had a hand in trying to tarnish Governor Andy Beshear’s sky-high popularity. (I can’t say if that’s true, but I never dismiss the lengths to which the jealous and insecure will go.)

But these are mere puppets on the string. Where do all the bad ideas in Kentucky derive? Koch Industries, of course.

The Koch Brothers (only one of the two survives) were most famous for throwing millions of dollars to create fake think tanks and ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), the latter being one-stop shopping for lobbyists who want to buy legislators and the legislators eager for the donations. The Kochs have spawned every bad idea ranging from killing public schools in favor of charter schools and vouchers, to allowing polluters free reign, privatizing police and fire departments, cutting benefits for the poor, and eliminating taxes for the rich. You come up with a bad idea, and it’s likely a Koch entity pioneered it.

But Ed Kilgore of New York magazine connected the dots among the protests in Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. While the protests (all on the same day) originally seemed spontaneous, they weren’t, of course — any more than the Tea Party protests were spontaneous. That uprising was underwritten by the Kochs and other ultra-conservative families in the 0.1% who yearned for an America that looks less like the America of the 1950s and more like the Brazil of 1890s. Jane Mayer of The New Yorker even wrote an award-winning book about it. (Recommended reading: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer!)

Stephen Moore is a self-proclaimed economist with a bachelor’s degree only in economics, a shady history when it comes to paying his taxes, and a history of being wrong about everything. He has been making the rounds telling any journalist who’ll listen that the economy needs to reopen immediately. Left unsaid is how many will die for Wall Street.

Yes, Moore serves the Trump Administration, but his real master is Charles Koch. Moore has three Koch sinecures: the Heritage Foundation, FreedomWorks, and Committee to Unleash Prosperity — and he’s earned them, as he always glibly toes whatever line Charles Koch is selling at the time. Coincidence, I’m sure. And the current line is that Wall Street profits outweigh your Grandma.

Moore told The Washington Post: “There’s a massive movement on the right now, growing exponentially. In the next two weeks, you’ll see protests in the streets of conservatives; you’ll see a big pushback against the lockdown in some states. People are at the boiling point. If this were Hillary Clinton doing these things, you already would have riots in the streets.”

Gee, I wonder why.

And Moore isn’t alone. Charles Koch and friends have assembled a who’s who of wingnut talking heads in their employ. As The Washington Post reported:

The outside effort from conservative groups is expected to be led by Stephen Moore, a conservative at the Heritage Foundation who is close with White House economic officials; Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots; Adam Brandon, president of FreedomWorks, a conservative advocacy organization; and Lisa Nelson, chief executive of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative organization with ties to the Koch brothers, according to the three people, who were granted anonymity to reveal details of an effort that had not been publicly revealed.

All those four organizations — the Heritage Foundation, the Tea Party Patriots, FreedomWorks and ALEC? Every single one is part of the Koch network. Surprise, surprise!

Now, remember those protesters at Frankfort? Chanting “We want to work?” Well, actually, they were all business owners. So they can work if they want. In fact, Calihan’s furniture in Lexington is open as we speak.

But that’s not really what they want. They want the right to sacrifice their employees and their employees’ families to the coronavirus. Because their profits are more important than actual people.

That’s true with Charles Koch. The entire Koch network is happily telecommuting. Imagine that! They want you and your grandma at risk, but they’re nice and safe. I guess their hashtag is #HealtyAtHomeForMeButNotForThee. Don’t fall for their rhetoric that they don’t even follow!

Kilgore ends his Intelligencer piece with this: “The big questions are whether the backlash is limited to cranky ideologues or assumes the proportions of a mass movement — and whether its leader is Donald J. Trump.”

#PresidentDunce, who couldn’t organize his sock drawer? Don’t you believe it! It’s the Koch network and their minions who are pushing for it – no matter who does their work for them.

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