Kochs Control Trump-Puppet Through Appointees

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This is a guest post byย ClimateDenierRoundup

Despite the fact that Trump campaigned against special interests andย suggested his primary opponents who begged for Koch cash were puppets, he now seems to be happy toย #StaffTheSwampย with Kochย operatives.

Beyond Myron Ebell and David Schnareย on his environment team, news broke yesterday thatย Trump picked Steven Groves to leadย the Department of State โ€œlanding team.โ€ Groves is an international policy wonk at theย Koch (and Exxon, and Korean govโ€™t) fundedย Heritage Foundation, and just last week, he wrote anย article advocating for a pull-out of the UNFCCCย as a way to exit the Parisย agreement.

As the negotiating framework for the UNโ€™s climate efforts and the underlying basis for the Paris agreement, if the US were to leave the UNFCCC, it would remove us from the negotiating tableย altogether.

Not only would this โ€œlead to political consequences with our allies,โ€ asย Groves admittedย in a House Science hearing last April, but it would also mean that Trump wouldnโ€™t be able to negotiate an amazing new treaty on climate, as the US would no longer be part of the negotiatingย framework.

But contradictory advice is nothing new to the Heritage Foundation, which during the Farm Bill fight in 2013 told the GOP to split the bill into two parts. When Republicans did as they were told, Heritage still wasnโ€™t happy.ย Republican Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina said thatย โ€œHeritage was now scoring against Republicans for doing exactly what Heritage had been espousing only a month before.โ€ Because of this stunt, as well as their push for 2013โ€™s government shutdown, former House speakerย Boehner saidย that groups like Heritage had โ€œlost allย credibility.โ€

Unfortunately, from the top of the Trump administration down, a distinct lack of credibility seems to be the unifying factor. But it is ironic that despite theย Koch networkโ€™s distinct lack of effortย to Trump get elected, they are nonetheless filling Trumpโ€™s administration with their operatives, fromย VP Penceย toย CIA chief Pompeoย to Ebell, Schnare and Groves. And on the Energy Department front,ย itโ€™s been reportedby E&E that Thomas Pyle ofย Koch-fundedย American Energy Alliance is running the transition, while the Interior is being led by Doug Domenech, ofย Koch-fundedย Texas Public Policy Foundation. Andย according to PoliticoPRO, on the Treasury team are Heritage-affiliated Bill Walton and Curtisย Dubay.

The question is: does Trump even know the Kochs are pulling his strings? Or does he really think heโ€™s โ€œNo puppetโ€?

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