--- title: Charles Koch Won't Vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump description: Billionaire Charles Koch likened the choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to a choice between cancer and a heart attack canonical: https://time.com/4403344/charles-koch-clinton-trump-choice/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-12T19:22:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:12:26.690Z article:section: Politics og:title: Charles Koch Compares Clinton and Trump to Cancer and a Heart Attack og:description: "If I had to vote for cancer or a heart attack, why would I vote for either?" og:url: https://time.com/4403344/charles-koch-clinton-trump-choice/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd723086e2f6946e/69889b9d2dce018df99e9d0a/charles-koch-2016-election.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Charles Koch og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Charles Koch Compares Clinton and Trump to Cancer and a Heart Attack twitter:description: "If I had to vote for cancer or a heart attack, why would I vote for either?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd723086e2f6946e/69889b9d2dce018df99e9d0a/charles-koch-2016-election.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Charles Koch Compares Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to Cancer and a Heart Attack  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 12, 2016 7:22 PM UTC  Charles Koch, head of Koch Industries, talks about his new book on Feb. 26, 2007. Charles Koch, head of Koch Industries, talks about his new book on Feb. 26, 2007.Wichita Eagle—MCT/ Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Jul 12, 2016 7:22 PM UTC Conservative billionaire [Charles Koch](http://time.com/3822767/charles-koch-david-koch-2015-time-100/) on Monday likened the choice between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to a choice between cancer and a heart attack. The CEO of Koch Industries made the [comments in an interview ](http://fortune.com/video/2016/07/11/charles-koch-opens-up/)at the [Fortune Brainstorm TECH 2016 conference ](http://www.fortuneconferences.com/brainstorm-tech-2016/)in Aspen, Colo. “I see two people that, as of this point, we’re not supporting,” he said, when asked what he thought of the presidential race, adding that he had no intention of choosing between the two. “If I had to vote for cancer or a heart attack, why would I vote for either?” In an interview earlier this year, [Koch said “it’s possible”](http://time.com/4305927/charles-koch-hillary-clinton-republicans/) that Clinton could be a better president than one of the Republican candidates. But in Monday’s interview with _Fortune_, Koch said that comment was taken out of context. Asked specifically about Trump, Koch said he disagrees with many of the presumptive Republican nominee’s values. “I’m sure he’s a fine fellow underneath,” Koch said. “But when you look at our guiding principles, you see that his guiding principles are, in many ways, antithetical to them.” Charles Koch Won't Vote for Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4403344/charles-koch-clinton-trump-choice/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4403344/charles-koch-clinton-trump-choice/"},"headline":"Charles Koch Compares Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to Cancer and a Heart Attack","datePublished":"2016-07-12T19:22:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:12:26.690Z","description":"\"If I had to vote for cancer or a heart attack, why would I vote for either?\"","url":"https://time.com/4403344/charles-koch-clinton-trump-choice/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd723086e2f6946e/69889b9d2dce018df99e9d0a/charles-koch-2016-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbd723086e2f6946e/69889b9d2dce018df99e9d0a/charles-koch-2016-election.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Charles Koch","caption":"Charles Koch","creditText":"Wichita Eagle—MCT/ Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4403344/charles-koch-clinton-trump-choice/","name":"Charles Koch Compares Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to Cancer and a Heart Attack"}}]}] ```