Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Stay on top of the latest market trends
Subscribe to Axios Markets for the latest market trends and economic insights. Sign up for free.
Sports news worthy of your time
Binge on the stats and stories that drive the sports world with Axios Sports. Sign up for free.
Tech news worthy of your time
Get our smart take on technology from the Valley and D.C. with Axios Login. Sign up for free.
Get the inside stories
Get an insider's guide to the new White House with Axios Sneak Peek. Sign up for free.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Want a daily digest of the top Denver news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Want a daily digest of the top Des Moines news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Want a daily digest of the top Twin Cities news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Want a daily digest of the top Tampa Bay news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Want a daily digest of the top Charlotte news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
Matt Rourke / AP
Few at the Koch donor retreat here in Indian Wells, Calif. trust that Donald Trump, a nationalist populist, will carry out a conservative policy agenda. So conservative governors and donors are putting their hopes — and advocacy — in VP Mike Pence.
Data points:
- While they're cool on Trump, Charles Koch and his top lieutenants have great relationships with Pence. They're also close to Pence confidant Marc Short, who used to be a top Koch network official and is now the Trump administration's point man in dealing with Congress.
- We pressed Koch officials and a top donor — Texas businessman Doug Deason — on why they think they can get criminal justice reform done this year given Trump's 1960s-style law-and-order campaign. The answer we got: "Mike Pence."
- During a Republican governors panel on Monday, Arizona's Doug Ducey, Illinois' Bruce Rauner and Wisconsin's Scott Walker were bullish about getting more authorities and money back to the states now Republicans have unified power in Washington. Moderator Mary Katharine Ham asked which specific areas Trump said he'd push authorities back to the states. Ducey's response was revealing: "When he picked Mike Pence as Vice President..." The Koch donor audience loudly applauded.
Our take: Pence's conservative credentials are impeccable, but measuring his influence over Trump is less straightforward. Remember that Trump and his chief strategist Steve Bannon have something close to contempt for the Koch and Paul Ryan school of principled, ideological, conservatism.
Back in 2014, Bannon told a Skype audience at the Vatican: "The second form of capitalism that I feel is almost as disturbing [as state-sponsored capitalism in China and Russia], is what I call the Ayn Rand or the Objectivist School of libertarian capitalism." That worldview hasn't changed.