Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the flagship political arm of the rightwing network founded by fossil fuel billionaire Charles Koch and his late brother David, has launched a $20 million campaign to support Donald Trump's plans to extend tax cuts and roll back federal regulations. The group's private fundraising letter, seen by the Guardian, outlines a 'herculean undertaking' for the first six months of the new Trump administration.
The eight-page document, made public for the first time, promises to press for renewed and deepened tax cuts and an 'unwinding [of] as many of the growth and innovation killing regulations as possible'. AFP's donor pitch, presented as a 2025 'prospectus', details a vast lobbying and grassroots effort including digital adverts, phone calls, social media posts, podcasts and door-knocking to boost core Trump ambitions.
It is estimated that the Kochs, who own the US's second-largest privately held company, have benefited by more than $1 billion a year from Trump's tax cuts. Koch Industries, which includes major oil refining and distribution interests, also stands to profit from any curtailment of federal environmental regulations combatting the climate crisis. As one of his first acts back in office, Trump moved to withdraw the US from the Paris climate agreement.
AFP was founded in 2004 by Charles and David Koch and remains a key political advocacy group within the Koch network, with $130 million of its $168 million budget in 2023 coming from the Kochs through their main funding channel, Stand Together. Relations between Trump and Charles Koch have at times been strained, but AFP's prospectus suggests any remaining animus has been smoothed over.
'Trump and Koch are working hand in glove transactionally to move the parts of the Trump agenda that the Koch network agrees with – and that's a lot of it,' said Nancy MacLean, professor of history and public policy at Duke University. The affinity between the two rightwing behemoths is evident in Trump's cabinet nominations, including Pete Hegseth, the newly confirmed defense secretary, who is former chief executive of Concerned Veterans for America, a non-profit group backed by the Koch network.
