Summary

Before mentioning the chapters’ namesake, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010, Mayer references the lengths to which David Koch has gone to use philanthropic giving to mask his political strategy. The monumental decision was a turning point for wealthy conservatives like the Kochs; Mayer claims it “launched the family’s covert spending into a new, more electorally ambitious phase” (227). Essentially, the decision allowed corporations to make unlimited donations to independent outside groups such as think tanks and philanthropic organizations, so long as large donations were not made to individual candidates. Mayer expresses her opinion on the Citizens United ruling by first stating its most damning implication: “corporations had the same rights to free speech as citizens” (228).

As the title of the chapter suggests, the Citizens United ruling had a long history rooted in the...