Democratic writers, reporters, and activists celebrated the death of Libertarian-turned-Republican billionaire, philanthropist, and political donor David Koch after his death was announced on Aug. 23.
“David Koch was a villain who devoted his wealth to further enriching himself and his fellow plutocrats, while spinning us all toward environmental doom. I don’t believe in an afterlife, but if there is one, I hope his soul suffers for eternity,” wrote Slate writer Jordan Weissmann on Twitter.
Oliver Willis, a writer with the leftwing Share Blue group, who previously worked for the activist Media Matters organization, wrote on Twitter: “Millions of Americans have suffered because of David Koch’s relentless drive to allow corporations to do anything they want to our communities and environment without any govt rules or oversight. The man’s legacy is ruination.”
“Even aside from his politics, he was an evil [expletive],” Willis later added. “He was a cancer.”
Crooked Media podcaster Erin Ryan said that “when terrible people die, nobody should have to pretend that they were good.”
“Bye [expletive] I’m glad you died,” she wrote.
Salon writer Amanda Marcotte wrote, “I see some celebrating David Koch’s death. I’m not. I wish every major climate change denialist lived to be 200 years old, so they can see the horrors they are unleashing on the rest of us.”
Enquire writer Charles Pierce said, “I’m just thankful the old [expletive] kicked.”
“If they’re going to cremate David Koch, they should save themselves all the fuss and bother and just drop the corpse into the Amazon rainforest fires,” he said. “I'd like to talk about the one thing that always symbolized how effectively the Koch money acted as a vector for the prion disease that has now consumed the higher functions of conservatism,” he added, sharing a link to an article he wrote.
Some acknowledged that Koch donated millions to various causes but said that was a sign of a system gone wrong.
Rachel Millman, who runs social for Outline, wrote, “David Koch spent 27 years of his life-fighting prostate cancer. he poured his money into cancer research, & due to that prostate cancer is often manageable. if you’re inspired by that instead of angry about how much power billionaires have over our lives, you should look closer.”
“Reminder that every billionaire is always going to be a ”philanthropist“ because they have so much money that they literally HAVE to give some of it to charity to avoid paying more taxes (they HATE giving back to the public good). They’re not saints, it’s an accounting decision,” said actor Rob Sheridan.
Others added more thoughts celebrating the death.
“In lieu of flowers, the family of David Koch requests that mourners simply purchase a Republican politician,” wrote actor Michael Ian Black.
That post was shared by former Hillary Clinton advisor Peter Daou, who wrote, “The beauty of Twitter is how much you can capture in fewer than 20 words.”
“To honor the legacy of David Koch, it seems only appropriate that Koch Family drop his body out of luxury jet into blazing Amazon rainforest in Brazil,” added Kevin Gosztola, managing editor of Shadow Proof.
Frequent CNN analyst and Intercept columnist Mehdi Hasan wrote, “Seeing lots of headlines about David Koch’s death referring to ”billionaire“, ”industrialist“ or ‘libertarian’ Koch. Haven’t seen any refer to him as ‘climate denier’ Koch. But that'll be his long-term legacy: funding the effort to downplay an existential threat to all of us.”
David Koch was 79. His cause of death was not disclosed.
