Billionaire industrialist Charles Koch said Friday that the 2016 Republican presidential candidates were not discussing the issues that he is interested in — and "it is hard for me to get a high level of enthusiasm" about the campaign as a result.
"The things I’m passionate about, and I think this country urgently needs, aren’t being addressed," Koch, 80, chairman of Koch Indusrtries, told The Financial Times.
The interview was also reported by
The New York Times.
Koch and his brother, David, indicated last year that their vast network
would spend nearly $900 million advancing conservative policies and candidates this election cycle.
But Charles Koch slammed candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. He said Trump's barring Muslims from entering the United States does not befit America's principles.
"You destroy our free society," Koch said. "Who is it that said, 'If you want to defend your liberty, the first thing you’ve got to do is defend the liberty of people you like the least?'"
Cruz's plans to "carpet bomb" the Islamic State would not be effective, since that could lead to bombing Muslims in other countries, Koch said.
"I’ve studied revolutionaries a lot," Koch said. "Mao said that the people are the sea in which the revolutionary swims.
"Not that we don’t need to defend ourselves and have better intelligence and all that, but how do we create an unfriendly sea for the terrorists in the Muslim communities?" Koch asked.
"We haven’t done a good job of that."