Always driven by corporate profits and their bottom line, Charles and David Koch may retreat from the 2016 elections, showing their thin skin as public scrutiny grows over the Kochs’ political activities and threatens their corporate and personal brand. Remember when people said attacking the Kochs’ business and personal interests was futile?

“Concerned about the damage being done to their corporate brand, increasingly bothered by their public vilification, and convinced after Republicans’ 2014 Senate takeover that even significant victories were having a negligible impact on federal policymaking, the Kochs began signaling to their closest allies that they were reevaluating their approach to politics. They had always believed that building the intellectual foundation for libertarian ideas in think tanks and universities — and supporting important public-policy initiatives at the state and local levels — paid greater long-term dividends than spending on elections. And more and more, they worried that campaigns could actually prove detrimental to their educational and advocacy work. The Kochs’ corporate associates and public-relations team had warned them their involvement in politics could sully their legacies, and now they were beginning to agree.”

“….Many people inside the Koch political operation know now what the brothers’ inner circle recognized many months ago: Charles and David have commenced what allies describe as a “realignment” of resources, steering their money and focus away from elections and toward a slew of the more intellectual, policy-oriented projects on which they have historically lavished their fortune.”

The “realignment” from electoral politics reported in today’s National Review article does not mean the Kochs will abandon their quest to manipulate politics in their self interest. It only confirms the Kochs will double-down on their efforts to finance think tanks, university professors, and political front groups across the country that support their aims. They won’t stop bankrolling their puppet politicians.

p.s. Since the Kochs are so worried about their corporate image and brand, they can start their atonement by apologizing for their past work with the Nazis.

Read more here.