This book exposes the influence of both the Koch brothers and Big Tobacco on the founding of the Tea Party movement. Jeff Nesbit was actually present for the very first meetings of the Koch team with the Tobacco industry to plan their approach for defeating tobacco regulations. The book is based upon the 14 million documents that were forced to be released as a result of the big legal settlements with the Tobacco industry.

The book came out during the 2016 primary season so does not comment on the influence of Donald Trump. it does, however, talk about how Trump's VP was aligned with the Koch brothers.

If I were a member of the Tea Party, I would feel totally exploited and used as a result of reading this. It reveals the Tea Party as being the Cancer Stick party since Tea Party supporters were, without their knowledge, being manipulated to do the bidding of Big Tobacco. ( )

A rather hastily written book that primary relies on documents made public from tobacco litigation. For regular readers of the NYTimes these are not new revelations but Mr. Nesbitt does show some of the organizational structure behind Koch money used to influence political thought in America. This book could have used editing. Nesbitt doesn't reveal his politics but he was formerly on staff for Vice President Dan Quayle. It is interesting to note that as of July 2016 no review of this book appears in the NYTimes! Dark Money and Kim Phillip-Fein's 2009 book, Invisible Hands, are perhaps better sources for understanding the Koch network of secret political funding. All contribute to the debate as to funding of the US elections. ( )