Hungarian born billionaire and supporter of liberal organizations George Soros told a reporter on Thursday that he was unconcerned about the political attacks on Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries. When asked if he thought the attacks on the Koch brothers add to the problem of polarization, Mr. Soros responded, “That may be a problem for them. For me, I don’t campaign yet.”
Mr. Soros visited the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. and sat on a panel where he debated Cato Institute’s Richard Epstein on Friedrich Hayek’s work. The question and answer period focused primarily on the debate topic, so issues regarding the 2012 presidential election was never brought up.
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While Mr. Soros told reporters he thought Glenn Beck was a “sideshow” the billionaire investor refused to comment on what he thought about Donald Trump as a presidential candidate, or if the Republicans could mount a billion dollar presidential campaign. It should be noted that Mr. Soros denied any past dealings with Mr. Trump, when I asked about the 2004 Trump Tower project in Chicago. According to a 2004 Chicago Tribune piece, though:
Donald Trump has lined up three New York hedge funds, including money from billionaire George Soros, to invest $160 million in his Chicago skyscraper, a key piece in perhaps the largest construction financing in the city’s history, according to real estate sources and public documents.
Mr. Soros was also asked by Politico if he would be giving money to groups who would support the Democrats in the 2012 campaign season and remained evasive saying, “”Since I don’t know what I’m going to do, I can’t tell you.” Mr. Soros contributed $27 million in contributions to Democratic Party causes during the 2004 presidential campaign and $2.5 million “to an independent political group established by John Podesta, now an Obama adviser, in 2008 and contributed $50,000, the maximum allowed, for Obama’s 2009 inaugural celebrations,” reported Bloomberg earlier this year.
