--- 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: 2026-08-19T07:45:57.497Z 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Charles Koch Compares Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to Cancer and a Heart Attack > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  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.” ```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":"2026-08-19T07:45:57.497Z","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"],"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"}}]}] ```