Tea Party movement

The Tea Party movement was many things to many people: 
* A far-right reactionary paleolibertarian (at least in their minds) socio-political movement within the United States. 
* A loosely-organized, and even more loosely-defined, group who felt disenfranchisedMatt A. Barreto et al. The Tea Party in the Age of Obama: Mainstream Conservatism or Out-Group Anxiety? Political Power and Social Theory, Volume 22, 2011. in this age of globalization. 
* A phenomenon of corporate astroturfing, sponsored primarily by Koch Industries, other billionaires, and Fox News.
* A group of people who had no major political grievances during the Bush administration, yet were suddenly extremely concerned with taxes and the national debt the instant a black man was elected POTUS.
At first, this "organization" consisted of little more than a dollar bill being yanked on a short string. Over time, it grew beyond the GOP's ability to rein in its members, to the point where they led a successful coup on the House Speaker. Thereafter, every piece of Teabagger legislation was shut down in the Senate (even if it passed with Republican support) or vetoed by the President, that legislation being huge tax cuts, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, huge tax cuts, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, repeal of Obamacare, and huge tax cuts.David Nather, "You go through a whole government shutdown so you can kill Obamacare dead, and all you get is a little more due diligence before people can get their subsidies?", Politico Also, repealing Obamacare.
==History==
As the name indicates, this self-inflicted gunshot wound was founded on a misinterpretation of the Boston Tea Party. They adopted the lame slogan "Taxed Enough Already" as a backronym for "tea." 
The term has been used here and there for generations; most recently, Ron Paul held a couple rallies against taxes they called Tea Parties,Tapp, Daryl, "Ron Paul; founder of the Tea Party", Examiner (2/22/12 8:18 PM MST). and a group in NY held rallies against anti-obesity laws that used the same name.Borowitz, Andy, "Teabaggers' New Cry: "Mrs. Obama, Hands Off Our Obesity", HuffPo (03/23/2010 04:44 pm ET | Updated May 25, 2011). 
Right-wingers insist that the movement was a totally organic, grassroots effort that sprang up overnight as a reaction to taxes Chinese-owned US debtSchiavanza, Matt, "Why China Is Relieved the Debt Ceiling Crisis Is Over", The Atlantic 10.17.13. ObamaTashman, Brian, "Tea Party Nation Tells Members It Is Time To 'Impeach And Arrest The Tyrant King Obama'", Right Wing Watch (6/5/2014 3:15 pm). progressivesGood, Chris, "Tea Party Nation: Progressives Are the 'Axis of Evil'", The Atlantic 10.26.10 health care reform big governmentPethokoukis, James, "The Tea Party's big idea to shrink government is a vacuous nothingburger", The Week' '2.19.15. illegal immigrationBoyle, Matthew, "Tea Party Patriots To Congress: Hold The Line Against Paul Ryan, Elect Republican Speaker Who Doesn’t Back Amnesty", Breitbart 10.12.15. gun control"Gun control is new focus for Tea Party activists", Associated Press (updated February 02, 2013 at 8:49 PM). the War on Christmas"Fox News' 'War On Christmas' Returns (VIDEO)", HuffPo 11.28.12. George Soros"Tea Party Has New Holy Cause: Converting Known ‘Atheist’ George Soros", Wonkette (May 17, 2013 - 5:17pm). the FCCBlue, Miranda, "Five Conservatives Who Don't Understand Net Neutrality…But Are Definitely Against It!", Right Wing Watch (11/14/2014 10:57 am)Mencimer, Stephanie, "The Tea Party vs. "Media Marxism", Mother Jones (Thu Apr. 7, 2011 9:46 AM EDT). Tea Party Patriot: "Net neutrality is an innocuous sounding term for what is really media Marxism." Al GoreRoberts, Diane, "The Tea Party's Next Target: The Environment", Guardian 8.3.11.Libit, Daniel, "An inconvenient tea party", Politico (10/16/09 02:57 PM EDT). SJWsWagner, Kyle, "The Future Of The Culture Wars Is Here, And It's Gamergate", Deadspin (10/14/14 3:46pm)."Why Conservatives Must Stand With #GamerGate" Tea Party Nation (December 8, 2014 at 4:00pm). Public librariesMorris, David, "The Tea Party vs. Public Libraries", 9.9.13. Canada?"Scott Walker Suggests Wall on Canadian Border", Tea Party Nation. taxes, presumably with representation. Everyone else realized this was a media stunt orchestrated by the likes of Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, Roger Ailes, et al.Mayer, Jane. Covert Operations. The New Yorker: August 30, 2010. 
Ironically, the Tea Party was actually launched by CNBC's Rick Santelli."CNBC's Santelli Rants About Housing Bailout" ABC News. 19 February 2009 The first use of the Tea Party iconography started in 2007 during Ron Paul's presidential campaign. However, the Tea Parties were limited to Paul die-hards and never gained mainstream traction until Santelli dredged the idea back up on CNBC in 2009. It didn't take long for the astroturf machine to move in after that:Amanda Fallin, Rachel Grana, and Stanton A Glantz, "To quarterback behind the scenes, third-party efforts’: the tobacco industry and the Tea Party", Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, 1.10.12.
===Not a joke===
The movement officially launched in February 2009. Their stated purpose was to organize a nationwide protest on April 15th, 2009 — the day income tax forms were due in the United States. On this day, millions hundreds of people gathered at various locations around the country to throw teabags into some handy bodies of water. These demonstrations took place everywhere from Kentucky to California, but were thwarted in Washington, D.C. because they didn’t have a permit to litter dump a million tea bags into the sea (way to organize, guys!). The protests energized the conservative base like nothing seen since the Goldwater revolution of the late sixties.
The greatest trick the Tea Party ever pulled was making everyone who isn't Ted Cruz look like a "moderate". Following a wave of elections lost by Tea Party politicians and the government shutdown of 2013 (which was widely blamed on Tea Party candidates like Cruz), the establishment wing began to realize that the Tea Party was hurting as much as helping them. Tea partiers denied these accusations and insisted that they will remain a force to be reckoned with.
There were 1.7 million 'baggers at a protest in Washington D.C. in the autumn of 2009 according to Glenn Beck.Glenn Beck: measured by the University of I Don't Remember. Not 60-75 thousand as estimated by the DC Park Policiffers. There were apparently follow-up protests on the 4th of July, 2009; however, they received little media coverage, and only one place cared.Some guy whining about media coverage. They did, however, hold a larger protest in Washington, D.C. on September 12, 2009 with attendance of about 70,000, comparable to other major D.C. protests.Size Matters; So do lies - fivethirtyeight.com
Jon Stewart once commented (in semi-praise of Ron Paul) that most were just "Moral Majority in three-corner hats."
===Make it stoppp===
The group had mixed success in the 2010 midterm elections; they kicked out most of the Blue Dog Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections, and were credited with some impressive Republican gains, but also caused the Republicans a few losses. For example, Sharron Angle, who, with Tea Party support, knocked out a more viable candidate in the Nevada Republican primary but then lost the election to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, whereas the more viable Republican candidate might have toppled the Tea Party's public enemy. Christine O'Donnell is another sorry case.
The Tea Party continued piling up wins in 2014 (probably because no one is proposing unchecked immigration and they are attacking a strawman), ousting Majority Leader Eric Cantor and shaking the very foundations of the GOP. It's thanks to them that the GOP controlled the House until 2018. No longer merely "useful idiots", the Tea Party looks to be the future of the Republican party. The 2016 GOP primary is even more of a circus now than it was before. You had Scott Walker talking about building a wall across the Canadian border, Carson discussing the possibility of using drones to bomb caves in Mexico, and Bush trying to out-trump Trump with mentions of the scourge of Asian birth tourism. Not to mention Cruz, Huckabee, and Paul all coming out in favor of bigoted nut Kim Davis.
The torch had already largely been passed. The problem wasn't that those specific Republicans made up a majority of the caucus, but that the rest of the caucus was scared of them. Tea Party groups continued to threaten to "primary" (i.e., support primary challengers against) incumbent Republican candidates running for re-election whom they perceive as being too moderate.Pappas, Alex, "Tea party leaders threaten primary challenges to Republicans supporting immigration bill", Daily Caller (10:50 AM 06/25/2013).
===Jumping on the Trump train===
In 2016, the Republican base voted overwhelmingly for a presidential candidate who promised to punish China economically for manipulating their currency.Meyers, Jessica, "An American-Politics Junkie in China", The Atlantic 1.13.16. Every GOP candidate (including Rand) had also promised to double down on everything the Bush administration did to worsen inequality.Tanenhaus, Sam, "The GOP Is Campaigning for George W. Bush’s Third Term", Bloomberg 5.19.15. "How do we contain ISIS?" "bombs lol" (also somehow tax cuts) They're also proposing "vaccine choice""DR. BEN CARSON: NO 'PHILOSOPHICAL' OR 'RELIGIOUS' EXEMPTIONS FOR VACCINATIONS", Breitbart. Carson was criticized by the right-wing press for being strongly pro-vaccine, but unsurprisingly changed his tune once he started competing to be the loopiest candidate.Collinson, Steven, "Chris Christie sidesteps vaccine science", CNN (Updated 2/315 11:59 AM ET).Carly: "When you have highly communicable diseases where you have a vaccine that’s proven, like measles or mumps, then I think a parent can make that choice, but then I think a school district is well within their rights to say, 'I’m sorry, your child cannot then attend public school'." (Although, to her credit, she says that schools have a right to deny entry to unvaccinated children.)Trump: "Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn't feel good and changes - AUTISM. Many such cases!" Twitter, 28 Mar 2014. and a return to the gold standard.Hiltzik, Michael, "The worst idea in the presidential debate: a return to the gold standard", LA Times 12.31.15. While terrible, that idea doesn't come close to "ban all the Muslims".Kalli Joy Gray, "Rand Paul Thought Of Banning Muslims First. How Come Trump Gets All The Credit?", Wonkette (12/8/15 4:30pm EST). Unless you consider "the pyramids are giant grain silos" to be an idea, then it's that one.Sneed, Tierney, "Ben Carson: Archaeologists Are Wrong, The Pyramids Were Built To Store Grain", Talking Points Memo 11.4.15. Hey man, play some Civ II and learn some history, fool! Everyone knows that building the pyramids provides a free granary in every city. But by the way let me tell you about how we must defund Planned Parenthood, even if it means shutting down the government, to prevent the majority mob from ruling us.Everett, Burgess, "Trump: Shut Down the Government to Defund Planned Parenthood", Politico 8.4.15. Meanwhile, Trump's supporters are so deluded that they actually believe he controls voters through mass hypnosis because a guy who draws cartoons told them so.Cavna, Michael, "Donald Trump will win in a landslide: The mind behind ‘Dilbert’ explains why.", WaPo 3.21.16. Adams thinks Trump is playing "3D chess." To the rest of us (sane people), he's a carnival barker.
So, no matter who won, the Republican party as you know it is over. Finished. Finito. Schwarzenegger, Jeb Bush, Mark Sanford, Flake, and the others are done. They have lost the respect of voters because they had the gall to put country over party. So they're out. It's now the party of Trump, LaPierre, Palin, and LePage. Ryan and McConnell are now champing at the bits trying to get their agenda passed while bowing to the Dear Leader. They can neither know nor accept opposing views, because they believe their failures are the fault of "others": immigrants, minorities, and the PC police.
In short, it's a global trend occurring as a result of economic instability and the death toll of the pre-information industrial sector. They aren't exactly socially liberal, since they're willing to exclude non-whites and women in society. We don't know exactly how this will play out in the coming years, since this is a contemporary phenomenon mirrored around the world.
===Death and irrelevance in the land of Trump===
In 2019, CNN reported that the Tea Party movement died when Trump and Congress hashed out a budget deal that further eroded the spending constraints enacted as a key component of the 2011 "Tea Party" Congress. This was no surprise, as Trump has never given a shit about deficits or debt.The day the tea party died. CNN, 23 July 2019. Since the Tea party was a principally oppositional movement, designed to drive up turnout by exploiting conservative hatred of Obama, with a Republican in the White House, it had simply outlived its usefulness.
==Demographics==
The Tea Party was fundamentally a movement of Republicans who thought they were Libertarians. 76% identified or leaned towards the Republican party (although much of the establishment Republicans find them annoying). More than $850,000 of the money the supposedly grassroots political action committee collected went to the firm of GOP political operatives who ran it."Fox spent weeks promoting apparent tea party scam", Media Matters 
This party was a beautiful microcosm of what modern conservatism has become: a small handful of people who actually care about things like small government (except the military of course), individual liberty, civil liberties, freedom of religion, privacy, and opposing government surveillance, all being shouted down by people who like to go on and on about how much they stand for all those things, but will throw it all away instantly with a smile on their faces the moment they smell a chance to persecute people they don't like. These are the "center right" voters who want to abolish the minimum wage and all social programs plus roll back the Civil Rights Act,Beutler, Brian, "Top Six Established Laws That Tea Partiers Claim Are Unconstitutional", TPM (10/26/10, 12:59 PM EDT). who call Obama a dangerous far-left extremist for saying that you can't fix a gay person by praying it away. As long as the gun industry continues to supply 'armed insurrections' against the government, they will always vote "R".Tea Party: On the Issues.
===Strange bedfellows===
A conservative distaste for alternative fuels. A wingnutty passion for "living off the grid". What happens when these two sides collide? You guessed it: the Tea Party issued challenges to utility monopolies in Arizona, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, and other places that unfairly tax rooftop solar panels.Dooley, Debbie, "I support solar energy because of my Tea Party beliefs — not despite them", The Guardian (Friday 24 July 2015 07.30 EDT). It's reasonable for there to be a fee for being disconnected from the grid; you pay an extra fraction of a cent per kWh that goes to making sure everyone else has power. What shouldn't happen is users being penalized for having solar via service fees that can exceed a normal power bill, like those Arizona power companies that wanted a $50-$100 minimum charge for using solar panels.Martin, Christopher, "Tea Party’s Green Faction Fights for Solar in Red States", Bloomberg (11/12/13, 1:46 PM PST). What appeared here was a schism between the Tea Party puppet-masters (Big Oil) and the on-the-ground activists, who had stopped following directions.Thompson, Claire, "Tea Partiers fight over solar power in Georgia, and the solar fans win", Grist 7.2.13.
===Minority outreach===
The Tea Party movement was highly diverse. Stormfront talked of infiltrating the Tea Party.Mayonesa, known for modding r/new_right and re/tea_party, is [exposed as a white supremacist with hundreds of posts on Stormfront.They're not even trying to be coy about it anymore. The white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens also had connections to it,
Michael Wines and Lizette Alvarez, "Council of Conservative Citizens Promotes White Primacy, and G.O.P. Ties", 'New York Times 7.22.15. "Skull Helmets? Are We The Baddies?"'' as did similar groups.Whoa now. The Nazis rose to power through distracting people from an unsustainable economic situation by invoking tensions against a racial minority while wearing snazzy outfits made by the actual person Hugo Boss. Cruz prefers Armani while Trump has his own suit line produced in Mexico. So it's crazy to try to compare them to the Nazis. 
Racism was by no means universal in the Tea Party: some groups expelled racist members. The NAACP called on the Tea Party to repudiate the racists within the movement, but there were complaints that not enough was done.Is The Tea Party Racist? Ask Some Actual, Out-Of-The-Closet RacistsNAACP backs report that ties racist groups to tea party Still by no means were all members racist; there was even at least one token African American representative.Tax Day Tea Party Protest in Tulsa Birthers represented 35% of committed Tea Party supporters, and the same proportion of conservative Republicans agreed. 
Tea Partiers couldn't even be relied upon to support Israel in the end. Tea Party lawmakers, on the other hand, leaned toward making an exception for Israel, thanks to the influence of Jewish fundraisers such as Sheldon Adelson.Spinelli, John Michael, "Tea party governors place bets with GOP casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson", Examiner (December 5, 2012 12:00 PM MST). Both Ron and Rand Paul were criticized and labeled anti-Semitic for proposing cuts to foreign aid. Ex-governors Rick Perry and Sarah Palin, both darlings of the Tea Party, carefully toed the line, and even Trump refused to touch the third rail."Trump Won’t Take Sides On Israel And The Palestinians", The Jewish Week 2/18/16. Still, there was an underlying resentment of foreigners which wouldn't go away so easily,Quigley, Bernie, "Israel and the Tea Party: Heartland America supports Israel", The Week (March 14, 2011, 02:04 pm). and threatened to bear fruit if the isolationist wing got its way.Lippman, Steve, "Tea Party Too Close For Jewish Comfort? - Cantor’s loss, isolationist foreign policy and Jews in the GOP.", The Jewish Week. 6.17.14.
===Conspiracy Theorists===
Anyone who spent time on an active Tea Party forum would have seen a number of conspiracy-related threads pop up. More common conspiracies included:
* The belief that Obama was deliberately trying to destroy America, or trying to create a socialist / communist totalitarian government.
* The belief that Obama's presidency was part of a plot to institute the New World Order — often referring to George Soros or the UN.
* And, of course, Birtherism.CBS poll
An eagle-eyed viewer may also find:
* 9/11 truthers
* Conspiracies about chemtrails
* Abiotic oil
But you would not have found anyone suggesting that the Tea Party itself might be a conspiracy of moneyed interests such as the Koch brothers.
===It's about taxes and spending, really!===
Though the movement claimed to be libertarian, most libertarians have come out against itLinkins, Jason, p"Tax Protest Origins: Ron Paul Supporters Make the Case", HuffPo ( 05/16/2009 05:12 am ET | Updated May 25, 2011).How to undermine a movement - NolanChart.com. Feb 7, 2010"New Data: Tea Party is Authoritarian, Not Libertarian" Discover Magazine and its prominent figures.Glen Beck and Ron Paul - Fool me Once - NolanChart.com. April 12, 2009 A Libertarian Party poll has also shown that Libertarians see the Teabaggers as too Republican-flavored:Which choice best represents your position on Libertarians and the Tea Parties? - LP.org. April 12, 2010
*Reactionary social policies and support for immigration law."Arizona Tea Party Activists Say They're Back" NPR, 12 July 2012
*National security policies."Tea Partier On Lead Up To Iraq War: 'We Have To Trust Our Leaders' (VIDEO)" Tom Kludt, Talking Points Memo. 19 March 2013
*Glenn Beck's previous entanglement with a Libertarian candidate.Glenn to Ron Paul supporters: Ron Paul is NOT RUNNING!, Glenn Beck's Official Website"Glenn Beck apologizes to libertarians, begs them to welcome new people into the movement"
*They turned a blind eye to legislation that curtails the rights of others.The Cause of FreedomAh, yes, the typical conservative approach to freedom: "Fuck you, got mine!"
*The Teabaggers cheered every time food stamps"House Republicans Pass Deep Cuts in Food Stamps" Ron Nixon, The New York Times. 19 September 2013 and other social support programs were cut, but had nary a word to say about other, possibly more significant kinds of government spending like agricultural/oil subsidies, unchecked military expenditure, and the idiotic, unwinnable War on Drugs."The Tea Party and the Drug War" Jeffery A. Miron, National Review Online. 7 June 2010Again, this is the typical right-wing approach to economics: "Fuck the little guy!"
*They believed even the most reasonable kinds of regulation/taxation were a violation of our civil liberties,"Ten Core Beliefs of the Modern-Day Tea Party Movement", Section 1 but thought it's okay for the government to dictate what we can put in our bodies, which consenting adults we can have sex with, and what women can take out of their bodies.
Furthermore, a number of polls showed considerable overlap between the Tea Party and the religious right:"The Relationship between Libertarians, the Tea Party and the Christian Right", Public Religion Research Institute
*A poll by the Public Religion Research Institute found that almost half of Teabaggers openly identified as part of the "religious right", a majority favored declaring abortion illegal, and less than one in five were in favor of legalizing gay marriage.PRRI poll via NPR
*A Pew poll found similar results, in addition to finding a majority in favor of securing the border and Second Amendment rights.Pew Poll
*A University of Washington poll found that a majority of Teabaggers thought gays and lesbians had "too much political power" and that immigration was "changing the country for the worse".U of W poll via HuffPo
==Astroturfing==
The Tea Party was astroturfing from minute one. It was the best-coordinated viral marketing campaign in history, and the fact that anyone actually believed it was ever grassroots is a testament to just how well-executed it was.
The two main 'Bagger astroturf groups were FreedomWorks, headed by Dick Armey, and Americans for Prosperity. Both were spun off from the Koch-bankrolled Citizens for a Sound Economy. The Kochs denied any connection to the Tea Parties. A few months after that statement, a video leaked of Teabag state chapter leaders reporting directly to David Koch himself at the Americans for Prosperity mothership.Video of Koch Tea Party link (But they're grassroots, honest!)
At the First Teabagging Convention, Mark Scoda, a Memphis businessman, announced the creation of Ensuring Liberty Corporation, a Memphis-based company with a political action group that would fund "Tea Party candidates" — that is, politicians supportive of the tea party movement which he described as: "Less government, fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, states['] rights, and national security." It will be accepting corporate donations.Tea Party Leader Launches Political Outfit - Wall Street Journal Blogs. February 5, 2010. (But it's grassroots, honest!)
The Tea Party became a patsy for the insurance industry's war on healthcare reform. The "Tea Party Caucus" received donations of $2.7 million from the health care sector, which also contributed towards a $25 million "war chest" to be used by the Tea Party to fight the elections.Health Insurers Donate Millions to Tea Party Caucus, and to Republicans Who Pledge to Reverse Health ReformHealth industry bolts Dems for GOP One insurer went so far as to urge employees to attend anti-healthcare Tea Party rallies.Major Health Insurance Company Urges Employees To Attend Tea PartiesLetter sent to staff by United Health Group (But it's grassroots, honest!)
===Factions===
By the end of 2009, like many kooky political movements, the movement splintered into various groups, each claiming to be the true leader of the Tea Party movement, including the Tea Party Patriots and the Tea Party Nation.Tea Party Patriots' websiteTea Party Nation's website On February 4-6, 2010 the Tea Party Nation hosted the first ever national convention in Nashville, Tennessee with guest speaker Sarah Palin.National Tea Party Convention website The convention was attacked by teabaggers for being distant from the supposedly grassroots movement, with tickets costing $549.Tea Party Disputes Take Toll on Convention - New York Times January 25, 2010
The largest Tea Party organizations by size were:The Death of the Tea Parties? Not So Fast... - Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.
*Tea Party Patriots
*ResistNet
*Tea Party Nation
*FreedomWorks Tea Party
*1776 Tea PartyWebsite. A particularly lulz worthy group due to the fact the Boston Tea Party occurred in 1773.
The Tea Party Patriots were funded primarily by billionaires Christopher Goldsbury and Sanford Diller, and Oregon libertarian David Gore.Major Tea Party Group Was Backed by Salsa Billionaire and Other Wealthy Donors, Hacked Documents Reveal: Tea Party Patriots’ web database contained only a small fraction of the “3 million patriots” it heralds on its site. by Micah Lee (August 5 2021, 10:10 a.m.) The Intercept. Their membership list only consisted of 144,000 people, despite their website claiming to have 3 million.
===Cheerleaders===
Though the news was generally critical of their intentions, they love the Tea Party's insult-comic shtick, their lack of political correctness, and (most importantly) the ratings their antics brought. 
The "9/12" protests on September 12, 2009 were the culmination of a six-month campaign by Fox News host Glenn Beck. The 9/12 Project got its name from the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington DC, on September 11, 2001. Apparently, Beck decided that the way to commemorate the 8th anniversary of this event was to hold a large anti-government rally in one of the cities where it occurred, something he had failed to do on the previous seven anniversaries whilst George W Bush was president. His rationale was that the protest was going to take Americans back to how they felt the day after the terrorist attacks — united behind a Republican president.9/12 Project mission statement He then devised 9 principles and 12 values he wanted everyone to adhere to.Our Principles & Values When the protest finally occurred, it was given all-day coverage on Fox News, with Glenn Beck hosting a special show from the protest. Despite some claims of a seven-figure turnout,A million or more rock Washington - WorldNetDaily. September 12, 2009. the heavily astroturfed tea party protest attracted 70,000 to 100,000 people.
The aftermath of the protest became a comedy of its own. Fox News began running full-page ads in newspapers that read "How did ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and CNN miss this story?"Fox News Newspaper Ad Makes False Claims About Tea Party Coverage - Huffington Post. September 18, 2009. The other news organisations all pointed out that they had given coverage to the protest during their news bulletins. Fox countered by saying they were missing the story behind the protest; however, the story behind the protest was that Fox News astroturfed it — including having news producers directing and rallying the crowd.Fox News Producer Caught Rallying 9/12 Protest Crowd In Behind-The-Scenes Video - Huffington Post. September 19, 2009.
Never one to be outdone, Rush Limbaugh suggested protesting the media itself for not covering this "growing movement".Patriots' newest target: Obama 'Minion Media' - WorldNetDaily. September 16, 2009. This began WorldNetDaily's attempted astroturf campaign to protest "Obama's Minion Media", with the help of the supposedly grassroots, supposed organisation Operation: can you hear us now? — whose website seems not to exist.Obama's 'Minion Media' to face fed-up Americans - WorldNetDaily. September 28, 2009. The extremely lackluster event gathered less than a few thousand people in more than 100 locations, making for underwhelming protests that were justifiably ignored by the media.Protesters target media: 'Can you hear us now?' - WorldNetDaily. October 17, 2009. As with the July 4th protests, without extensive advanced coverage from major media outlets like Fox News, the tea parties tended to attract very small crowds.
In October 2009, Republicans in the House of Representatives wanted to pass a resolution to commemorate the "hundreds of thousands of American patriots" who "came to Washington, DC, to show their disapproval".House Republicans Commemorate 9/12 March With House Resolution - Huffington Post. October 27, 2009. Remember, these protests were not organized by the Republicans; they were entirely organic, and the protesters opposed government waste — which should presumably include passing unnecessary resolutions.
==Stupidity==
The problems with the movement were many, but they boiled down to oil men taking advantage of uninformed working stiffs.Lawrence Rosenthal, The Tea Party, the government shutdown, and Obamacare The Foundation for Law, Justice and Society, 15 October 2013. Generally, the protests suffered at least one of these flaws:
#The Obama administration had issued no new taxes at all, before the date of the protest. Any complaint about the tax policy at the time should have been directed at the Bush administration, whose taxes were still in effect. Even after the Obama administration changed the tax laws for the following year, 95% of people got a tax cut, not an increase. No reports exist saying whether the protests consisted entirely of the 5% who would pay (slightly) more taxes. Furthermore, though the Teabaggers frequently protested the 2009 stimulus package, tax cuts encompassed 37% of the stimulus. 
#The original Tea Party was to protest taxation without representation. The US had (and currently has) taxation with representation, unless Obama suspended free elections (spoiler alert: he didn't). Thus, using tea is an inappropriate, idiotic idea that accomplishes nothing except pointing out which people are not clever enough to research what they're protesting about. Oh, and giving some fish a brief caffeine and tannin high. And creating a temporary windfall in sales of tea bags. However, let's not forget the fact that D.C. and the territories actually experience taxation without representation, but the Teabaggers didn't rush to their aid.
#Also, and more amusingly, the original Tea party was a protest over the tea tariff being cut — but only for the British East India Company. As a result, the EIC effectively gained a monopoly over tea in the colonies, since they could sell tea at drastically lower prices, undercutting the wealthy merchants and smugglers (the "protesters").The Tea Act, Our American Revolution, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
#Promoted as a "giant" protest, with "over 500" local events, it was utterly dwarfed by the "protest heard 'round the world" against the start of the Iraq War, which earned George W. Bush the ignominious title of having the largest number of people ever in history to protest against him.
#Many who considered themselves to be part of the Tea Party worshipped the Republican Party and/or people like Glenn Beck. Others (wanting to appear "independent") claimed not to agree with such organizations or people, yet espoused much of the same crackpot rhetoric. They thought that listening to paranoid blowhard Alex Jones and reading Infowars made them savvy.
==Insert teabagging jokes here==
*Protestors were "full throated" and wanted to give Obama "tongue lashings". Oh yeah, that's dirty baby.Biased as all hell from MSNBC, but the introductory commentary says it all
*A Fox News fan wrote in saying he would hang tea bags from his rear-view mirror and antennae (to "support the cause") because he couldn't make it to the actual protests and Gretchen Carlson piped in saying, "You could hang it from your mirror too like fuzzy dice."Huffington post vidcap of Fox News
*"The Democrats are a donkey, Republicans are an elephant, and the Tea Party is a bug up the elephant's ass." - Stephen Colbert on the fiscal cliffNot a Game, the board game.
*"It's hard to talk when you're teabagging"Anderson Cooper adds one more stupid joke.
* "[I]f you are planning simultaneous tea bagging all around the country, you're going to need a Dick Armey."Shuster, quoted at the Huffington Post
* "Teabaggers suck balls."
==Not-so-useful idiots==
*Greg Abbott (Governor of Texas 2015-present): Suing the President is his big claim to fame.Owen, Sue, "Greg Abbott says he has sued Obama administration 25 times", Politifact (5/10/13 at 5:14 p.m.). TEXAS WILL SUE!! TEXAS WILL SUE!! TEXAS WILL SUE!!Hennessy-Fiske, Molly, "LGBT divide grows as 11 states sue feds over transgender bathroom rule", LA Times (5-25-16 at 9:02 pm.). That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works. The U.S. government issued an opinion. You can't sue. (Similar to when idiots pass laws against video games.) That's not his money. That's taxpayer money. He wins on multiple fronts: He can point to the law and say "see what I did?" He can also point at the judges who overturn it and shout "judicial activism, see?" And last but not least, when cases like this one drain money from the government and social programs have to be cut, he can point and say "See, big government doesn't work. It can't balance its budget." Unfortunately, humanity as a whole loses.
*Todd Akin (Representative from Missouri 2001-2013): These aging boomers are hilariously tone-deaf.
*Sharron Angle: Fruitcake to the tenth power. She believes that rape victims should turn lemons into lemonade and give birth, and endorses "Second Amendment remedies." Despite bashing "Obamacare," she and her husband receive government health care.
*Penis Navy Wiener Air Force Cock Marines Vagina Coast Guard Dick Armey (Representative from Texas 1985-2003, House Majority Leader 1995-2003): He split with the FreedomWorks lobbying group over matters of principle, uh huh. (He managed to pocket $8,000,000 before quitting over minor details, like fraud.) This is just standard procedure for the elitist class: CEOs frequently drive companies into the ground and receive very handsome payouts for their failure. We preferred the direction he was taking the Tea Party: Wasting money on losing elections.Walshe, Sushannah, "Dick Armey Defends His $8 Million Deal to Leave FreedomWorks", ABC 12.29.12.
*Joe Arpaio: How this guy kept getting re-elected is a reflection of the intelligence in the Sun City area. (We have dozens of golf courses in a desert, so why do we have a drought?) He was recently charged with federal contempt and is facing trial. Just in time to be drafted by Trump's Homeland Security, so wave goodbye to your Constitution. If the Yellowstone supervolcano blows, this is why.Markon, Jerry, "Trump Homeland Security candidates include GOP lawmakers and, less likely, a sheriff", WaPo 11.11.16. Update: Looks like we dodged that bullet.Stern, Ray, "Source: Sheriff Arpaio was Prepared to Resign If He'd Won Re-Election", Phoenix New Times (11/21/16 at 10:13 a.m.).
*Rob Astorino: Andrew Cuomo may be hated in upstate NY, but they hate this guy even more. He was elected by an apathetic electorate and didn't deserve the state governorship. "Soup is good!" he said, with a giggle, when asked how Medicaid recipients would chew food if dental services are no longer covered.Blain, Glenn, "Soup is not so good for Rob Astorino in new Democratic attack ad", NY Daily News (September 29, 2014, 4:28 PM) He gunned for Cuomo again in 2018.
*Michele Bachmann (Representative from Minnesota 2007-2015): Bachmann (and some of her Tea Party cronies) accused an aide of Hillary Clinton of being a Muslim Brotherhood agent sent to infiltrate the highest levels of Washington. In response, John McCain proved he has a bit of a spine and took to the Senate floor to denounce this evil shrew.
*Adam Baldwin: He is responsible for "Gamergate", along with a few wackadoodle theories regarding Obama.
*Steve Bannon (White House Chief Strategist 2017-slightly later in 2017): Not sure this is really a "takeover" so much as sealing the deal.Shapiro, Ben, "The Breitbart alt-right just took over the GOP" WaPo 8.18.16. Nazi alt-righters on social media already call themselves Republicans, and there's been less than zero resistance from the party's rank and file. At some point, you just have to say the alt-right is the Republican Party.And given that the existence of the alt-right is unhealthy for humanity…
*Lou Barletta (Representative from Pennsylvania 2011-2019): Endorsed Trump because he identifies with him. “I’ve been called names, a racist and a bigot."Costa, Robert, "Lou Barletta, an immigration hard-liner in Congress, endorses Trump", WaPo 3.22.16. Yes. Yes, you have. He failed to mention he fought his case all the way to the Supreme Court and lost, with the citizens of Philadelphia having to foot the bill for legal fees.DeKok, David, "Pennsylvania city must pay $1.4 mln legal fees in immigration fight", Reuters (10/7/15 at 3:37pm EDT). Hopefully the Santorum endorsement is a sign of his predictive ability fuck.
*Joe Barton (Representative from Texas 1985-2019): He's a man on emission. Wind is a finite resource,Jay Newton-Small and Katy Steinmetz, "Eight More Deep Thoughts from Rep. Joe Barton", TIME 6.18.10. Gas is a finite resource? Yeah, well, SO'S YOUR MOM we're running out of wind, too!]] Wind is constantly replenished by sunlight, dingus. environmentalists are causing global warming, and besides, brimstone has a much higher carbon footprint!Goldenberg, Suzanna, "Texas Congressman Cites Noah's Ark As Evidence Against Climate Change", Mother Jones (Fri Apr. 12, 2013 5:00 AM EDT). You can laugh at this idiot, but the real problem is that 50% of Americans would agree with him, and an even higher percentage in Texas. At this rate, humanity won't make it to the year 3,000.
*Glenn Beck: We Surround Them!
*Matt Bevin (Governor of Kentucky 2015-2019): Opposed renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, on the dizzy grounds that it was “unconstitutional” to include spics, squaws, and lesbos in the bill. Wants to legalize cockfighting.Sarlin, Benjy, "Kentucky Senate candidate Matt Bevin caught backing cockfighting", MSNBC (04/25/14 10:51 AM—Updated 05/03/14 04:03 PM). Too crazy even for Kentucky Served as governor for one term before narrowly losing reelection to Democrat Andy Beshear. That face now you're done with the Governor's shit.
*Pat Boone: Believes Dylann Roof was justified in shooting up a black church,Tashman, Brian, "Pat Boone Blames Charleston Shooting On Obama", Right Wing Watch (6/25/15 at 11:40 am). and wants to arrest the cast of Saturday Night Live.Haraldsson, Hrafnkell, " Pat Boone Wants Blasphemy Laws to Punish Saturday Night Live", Politicus USA (4/23/16 at 2:59pm). His punishment from God? Having to live right next door to Ozzy Osbourne. 
*James Bopp: Seeks a "pure" GOP.Be careful what you wish for, pal, 'cause now it's pure evil. Also likes to call people names.
*Kevin Brady (Representative from Texas 1995-present, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee 2015-2019): Indecision 2016 "is a clear choice of two paths: one with higher taxes or one with more taxpayers." Translation: This election is about allowing the temporary tax cuts to expire as agreed to or taxing the poor and middle class, who are living under the greatest disparity of wealth since the '20s.
*Dave Brat (Representative from Virgina 2014-2019): College professor who spanked the well-financed incumbent, Eric Cantor. It's really not that impressive; Brat is another bought-and-paid-for shill for the Koch brothers. Says "rich" nations don't have to fear climate change (???).Molly Redden and David Corn, "David Brat, the Libertarian Who Beat Eric Cantor, Doesn't Believe in the "Common" Good", Mother Jones (Wed Jun. 11, 2014 10:50 AM EDT). Brat: "My hero Socrates trained in Plato on a rock. How much did that cost?" This guy is every smug, Econ 101 student rolled into one.
*Andrew Breitbart, RIP: Prime publisher and amplifier of James O'Keefe. Helped launch the Tea Party, slimed ACORN, got Shirley Sharrod fired, and exposed Weiner. (Erm...) Very sad. I wasn't aware that you could actually die from being full of shit.
*Jan Brewer (Governor of Arizona 2009-2015): ERROR: COMPASSION.EXE IS CORRUPT. INITIATE DESTROY_HUMANS.EXE"Jan Brewer signs 'life begins at menstruation' bill, the most draconian anti-abortion law so far", Daily Kos (Friday Apr 13, 2012 · 6:42 AM PST)."Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer Signs Legislation Permitting Employers to Interrogate Female Employees About Contraception Use [Updated again"], Raw Story (12 May 2012 at 19:20 ET). Update: She could have challenged the term limit, but it would have been a long shot at best.
*Mo Brooks (Representative from Alabama 2011-2023): "There are a growing number of leftists who believe the way to resolve this is not at the ballot box but through threats and sometimes through violence and assassinations." Yeah, okay pal.
*Paul Broun (Representative from Georgia 2007-2015): Evolution and Big Bang Are “lies straight from the pit of Hell!” Broun served on the House Science Committee with Todd Akin.
*Sam Brownback (Senator from Kansas, 1996-2011, Governor of Kansas 2011-2018): Ran on a Tea Party platform, primaried the Republican governor, and then promptly bankrupted the state. A total unmitigated disaster who can barely govern due to how poor the state is. Lowest approval rating in the country from what I understand. Reelected in 2014 (Kansas). Thank God for Trump tapping this guy for a position, otherwise he might've never gone away.
*Mary Lou Bruner: A truther... JFK Truther, that is! (So that's where Trump got the idea.) Even the Tea Party thinks she's out to lunch.
*Cliven Bundy: Turd flushed.Phillips, Amber "Why Rand Paul should back away from Cliven Bundy. Now.", WaPo 7..1.15. Many more.
*Herman Cain: Trump needs black supporters to counter accusations of KKK affiliation. He seems to know this, and has already enlisted a few.
*Eric Cantor (Representative from Virginia 2001-14): The party purity thing is crazy. Cantor agreed with them 95% of the time and had the power to get things through. Now you have to agree with them 99% of the time, or kiss your College Boy ass good-bye. It's an echo chamber.
*Ben Carson (Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 2017-2021): Makes audible grinding noises when asked difficult questions. "Obamacare is the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery. In a way, it is slavery..." How about shut up.
*Liz Cheney (Representative from Wyoming 2017-2023): Sith apprentice. Offers zilch to the residents of Wyoming, besides her father’s connections of course. Disowned her sister for having a functioning sense of empathy.Caldwell, Patrick, "Liz Cheney Heartlessly Disowns Her Sister on National TV", Mother Jones (11/18/13 8:41 AM EST). Can you imagine how hard it must have been to be a lesbian growing up with this lot? Was shown the door in 2014. Don't worry, there is other evil that she can attend to. Hopefully she will go hunting with her dad. In 2016, she was elected to Representative. Liz barely had time to unpack her carpet-bag from the last failed attempt. But to her credit, at least she has enough human decency left to throw Trump under the bus denounce Donald Trump for attempting Kristellnacht 2.0 to stay in power after losing the 2020 election.
*David Clarke: Behaves like a True Grit jack ass anytime his department might take a trim.Vielmetti, Bruce, "Sheriff Clarke urges residents to arm themselves with guns", 1.25.13. Like Sheriff Joe, he's become addicted to the limelight;Duffy, Nick, "Trump’s latest Cabinet candidate called Orlando massacre a ‘distraction’ and mocked transgender ‘freaks'", Pink News (11/30/16 at 2:14 PM).Smith, Allan, "David Clarke tells 'DeploraBall' crowd the only time he'd reach 'across the aisle' to Democrats 'is to grab one of them by the throat'", Business Insider (1/20/17 at 6:40 PM). he needs to be busted down to private citizen, stat,Bice, Daniel, "Medical examiner 'threatened' by Clarke over jail deaths", Journal Sentinel (Updated 12/2/16 at 9:01 a.m.). but alas, he keeps running as a Democrat and there's no way to prevent Republicans from voting for him. We will never understand the cowboy hat. (Come on, you're in Milwaukee dude.)
*Greg Collett: Came out against Idaho driver's licenses. Because, you know, it's not important that we license people and hold them responsible for plowing two-ton machines into people. Oh, but here's the kicker: he's against mass transit too! So in his perfect world, no one has a license, but they can't avoid having to drive. He's really just really anxious to live in a Mad Max-style apocalypse.Popkey, Dan, "Idaho tea party candidate Collett skewered for having 10 children on Medicaid (update)", Idaho Statesman 10.17.13.
*Billy Corgan: "Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage Captain of Industry, so pay for downloading my music, you leech on society ♫" He really knows how to relate to teenagers, so it makes sense he hasn't moved past that mentality.MacNichol, Glynnis, "Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan: Swine Flu Part Of Obama Conspiracy", Mediate (10/29/09 at 2:06 pm). When people like this stub their toe or hit their head, they probably blame "SJWs."Lartley, Jamiles, "Billy Corgan compares 'social justice warriors' to the KKK", The Guardian (Wednesday 20 April 2016 12.30 EDT).
*Jerome Corsi: Claimed that Obama might be gayEror, Aleks, "This Man Has Proof That Obama Is Gay", Vice (10/11/12 at 12:00am). and can't be trusted with the Presidency because he smoked once.
*Doreen Costa: "Just cut Food Stamps. Most people on welfare are addicts anyway, lol."Emery, Jr., C. Eugene, "Rep. Costa says drug testing for welfare recipients will save money for Rhode Island", Politifact (Friday, August 26th, 2011 at 8:00 a.m.). 
*Tom Cotton (Senator from Arkansas 2015-present): Responsible for the Iran letter, which didn't go over too well.Capehart, Jonathan, "Tom Cotton picked apart by Army general over ‘mutinous’ Iran letter", WaPo 3.13.15. Right-wingers love him for undermining Obama, however.Hurst, Evan, "Sen. Tom Cotton So Glad America Chose Him To Usurp Tyrant King Barack Obama", Wonkette (4/5/16 at 12:40pm).
*Ann "Redneck Money" Coulter:The Real Ann Coulter Revealed Dang, Coulter is downing a lot of redpills lately. She is a good little Alt-Lite figurehead, like Milo, but as far as conservatives go, she never had kids or even got married, and even dated a guy from India.
*Ted Cruz (Senator from Texas 2013-present): I'm not saying that Bohener is infested with alien brain mites, but I'm just saying that I'd want to know if he was.
*Ken Cuccinelli: A vote for Ken Cuccinelli is a vote for keeping sexual predators off the streets — including married couples. (Virginia: No Longer For Lovers™) Not even close to constitutional since Lawrence v. Texas. He isn't just anti-sodomy, he was fine with knowingly passing a law in violation of a SCOTUS decision. And endorsed by both Pauls, of course.Bouie, Jamelle, "Ken Cuccinelli Making Bad Candidate History in Virginia", Daily Beast (10.29.13 2:15 AM ET). A Paulbot to the end, Ken polled at an impressive 7%.
*Jim DeMint (Senator from South Carolina 2005-2013): More like "Demented", amirite? Former leader of the "Frat House for Jesus" and the Heritage Foundation, but he's too Trumpy for them.Eliana Johnson and Nancy Cook, "The real reason Jim DeMint got the boot", Politico (Updated 2 May 2017 PM EDT). Is anyone keeping a fucking body count here? Had a simple goal for the US Senate: "Complete gridlock."Shakir, Faiz, "DeMint: Businesses Tell Me ‘The Best Thing’ Would Be ‘Complete Gridlock’", ThinkProgress (Sep 16, 2010 8:35 pm). He also wants schools to fire gay and "promiscuous" female teachers.
*Ron DeSantis (Representative from Florida, 2013-2018, Governor of Florida, 2019-present): Won the primary on Tuesday, started spouting racist horseshit on Wednesday.https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/desantis-under-fire-saying-florida-should-t-monkey-electing-gillum-n904746 Ran ads of his young children building Trump's wall.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1YP_zZJFXs But alas, he won, because why would anything ever go right?
*Scott DesJarlais (Representative from Tennessee 2011-present): Gerrymandering lets you do amazing things.Shipps, Jeremy, "Tennessee Republican who pressured mistress to have abortion votes to restrict them for other women", Raw Story (5/15/15 at 11:05 ET).
*David Duke: The Goyim know.
*Erick Erickson: He desperately tried to unite all of the right-wing pundits together on three separate occasions. He failed, and now he's just another crank whining about how teh evul liberals are destroying our society. 
*Joni Ernst (Senator from Iowa 2015-present): Hard to show charity when your church brainwashes you into lacking empathy.Ferguson, David, "Obamacare is bad because people should rely on churches for help", Raw Story (17 Oct 2014 at 10:52 ET). Unlike most people on the dole, Sen. Joni Ernst just learned to "live within her means" — on the taxpayer's dime, of course.Hiltzick, Michael, "The public spotlight might not prove to be Ernst's best friend", L.A. Times (1/23/15, 1:05 pm). Sick of this automaton? (And the "I'd like to speak to the manager" haircut to go along with it?) Blame the Dems for not highlighting any of the good things they have done for the country.
*Joseph Farah: God is angry at Obama, so he sent tornadoes.Johnson, Charles, "World Net Daily Publisher Joseph Farah: God’s Angry at Obama, So He Sent Tornadoes - Far right End Times paranoia", Little Green Footballs (5/28/11 12:58:40 pm). (Which makes all kinds of sense, since the tornadoes only hit red states.) He loves Israel, but hates Mormons because they reject the Trinity; this explains why WND took a dislike to Romney in 2012.Tashman, Brian, "Joseph Farah: Mitt Romney Is Worse Than Satan", Right Wing Watch (10/21/10 t 3:38 pm).
*Michelle Fiore (City Councilwoman from Las Vegas 2017-present): Bundy cheerleader from Nevada who owed the IRS approximately $1 million.Rindels, Michelle, "Vegas assemblywoman blames employee for tax liens", Associated Press 12.16.14. No wonder she wants to kick the federales out. Her political platform appears to be "I HAVE BIG BREASTS AND LOTS OF GUNS". It's as if a video game character somehow reverse-TRON'ed into our world.
*Carly Fiorina: Star of CSI: Cyber. Her bad parenting killed her step-daughter, not marijuana. What sort of witch uses the death of family members for political gain?Peele, Stanton, "Carly Fiorina Loves Addiction Treatment, But Hates Drug Legalization", The Fix 9.29.15. Attributes her litany of failures to sexism.Hurst, Evan, "Did Carly Fiorina Run Hewlett-Packard Into The Ground, Or Did SEXISM Do It?", Wonkette (April 30, 2015 - 11:40am). Oh, fuck right off. Now that The Donald's facilitated a pandemic, a crashing economy, and riots in the streets, she's decided it's time she stood up for her principles.Dovere, Edward-Isaac, "She Wanted to Be a Republican President. She’s Voting for Biden", The Atlantic, June 25, 2020.
*Bryan Fischer: Homosexuals are bullies who are trying to force their way of life on everyone. Why can't we just force them to live the same way as me?
*Michael Flynn (DIA Director 2012-14, National Security Advisor January 2017-Febuary 2017): Michael Flynn was fired from DIA for being terrible at his jobHellman, Jessie, "New Yorker profile: Flynn broke 'stupid' rules during Army career", The Hill (11/24/16 01:16 PM EST). and a little crazy. Obama gave him a pink slip, but one suspects that the intelligence world wanted him gone. Trump then appointed him to be NSA, a liaison between him and intelligence. Intelligence world not happy. Flynn Jr. was a promoter of Pizzagate until daddy told him to muzzle it.Concha, Joe, "Michael Flynn Jr.: 'The disinformation campaign against my father won'", The Hill (02/14/17 09:48 AM EST). Update: Do svidaniya.Moss, Richard A., "Why back-channels with Russia cost Michael Flynn his job", WaPo (2/14/17 at 8:29 AM Yes, a career intelligence officer (who made it as far as being put in charge of the DIA!) knowingly gave secret communiqués to Russia on an open line. He lasted 24 days, a new record.
*Virginia Foxx (Representative from North Carolina 2005-present, Chairman of House Education Committee 2017-present): She said Matthew Shepard was killed in a robbery, not because he was gay. She hasn't said why he was tortured and crucified.
*Trent Franks (Congressman from Arizona 2003-2017): Congresspeople like this are "a threat to the nation's survival".Tashman, Brian, "Rep. Trent Franks Calls Marriage Equality A “Threat To The Nation’s Survival”, Right Wing Watch (10/28/11 at 11:40 am). Thinks terrorists can hide nukes in marijuana bales, and that's why we need a wall. Which may or may not have been the plot of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.Blake, Aaron, "GOP congressman says nuclear bomb could be smuggled in a ‘bale of marijuana.’ Don’t laugh too hard", WaPo (2/22/17 at 10:54pm).
*Frank Gaffney: Anti-Muslim gadfly, now a "National Security advisor" to the Trump Administration.England, Charlotte, "Donald Trump 'appoints Islamophobic conspiracy theorist to transition team'", 'Independent. This is the guy who repeatedly said the Muslim brotherhood was about to seize Washington.Gaffney, "Huma’s Inconvenient Facts", Center for Security Policy 7.30.13. Yeah, we're still waiting on that one.
*Pamela Geller: Sultana of second-generation, middlebrow racism.
*Newt Gingrich (Representative from Georgia 1979-99, Speaker of the House 1995-99): The spiritual father of the movement. Newt was one of the first practitioners of brinksmanship, obstruction, and all those 'party-over-country" tactics we complain about today. He and his cohorts held up Congress to the point of shutdown, same as in 2013. As we have seen, these tactics somehow translate to parties sweeping the legislature.
*Louie Gohmert (Representative from Texas 2005-2023): King Louie is simply too gorgeous and outsized a figure to sum up here.
* (Representative from South Carolina 2011-2019): As a legislator, Gowdy has done jack squat. He wasted 6 million dollars on Benghazi hearings, and claimed the e-mail investigation (run by a Republican who hates Clinton) was a cover-up. He's truly no better than any other conspiracy theorist, which is why the alt-right loves him.
*Nikki Haley (Governor of South Carolina 2011-2017, Ambassador to the U.N. 2017-2018): We knew she was in for trouble when she said that the problems in the government aren't all the Democrats' fault.Garcia, Arturo, "Twitter conservatives furious at ‘RINO’ Nikki Haley for supporting Confederate flag’s removal", Raw Story (23 Jun 2015 at 05:11 ET).
*Sean Hannity: Used to be friends with this guy.
*Joe Heck (Representative from Nevada 2011-17): The bootleg Sharron Angle. Accidentally linked voters to a hentai site.Roney, Luke, "Senate Candidate Sends Voters to an Anime Porn Site", Newser. (6/12/16 at 5:02 PM CDT) What a guy.
*Valarie Hodges: Ack! When I voted to funnel state funds to religious schools, I didn’t mean Muslim ones! - Rep. Valarie Hodges (R)Ryan, Erin Gloria, "Republican Horrified to Discover that Christianity Is Not the Only Religion", Jezebel (7/06/12 11:00am).The Satanic Temple probably laughed themselves hoarse when hearing about that dominionist backfire.
*David Horowitz: Accused Kistol of being a "renegade Jew" who is in league with Hamas.Borchers, Callum, "Breitbart headline labels Bill Kristol a ‘renegade Jew’ for opposing Donald Trump", WaPo5.16.16. This is old hat for Horowitz."The Anti-Muslim Inner Circle", SPLC 6.7.11.
*Kay Ivey (Governor of Alabama 2017-present): Fundamentalist hypocrite who has proven to be worse than her predecessor. Has a fetish for the death penalty.
*Earl Walker Ewwww "E.W" Jackson: You have to wonder about a guy who keeps trying to criminalize oral sex. Believes that practicing yoga allows Satan into your heart.
*Victoria Jackson: She's giving off some serious Ali G vibes. But there's no indication that she's taking the piss.
*Ron Johnson (Senator from Wisconsin 2011-present): This is the guy Wisconsin voted in over Russ Feingold? Feingold gave WI a voice in national politics, he fought for his constituents, and actually did his homework (see: the PATRIOT Act). Then the state decided, to hell with having a voice or any influence, let's vote in this rich businessman who bought his way into the seat. He's not even a good businessman, anyway; most of his money comes from his wife's family. He is useless.
*Alex "Juice Boxes Make You Gay" Jones: Make one last trip to Wal-mart for canned goods and ammo, before you retreat to your underground bunkers made mostly of derelict school buses and old refrigerators. (Don't click his videos for any reason, even to laugh. Please stop giving him adsense.)
*Jim Jordan (Representative from Ohio 2007-present): If John Boehner thinks you are a "legislative terrorist", you must be a pretty bad dude. 
*John Kasich (Governor of Ohio 2011-2019): Kasich is with the Tea Party, too, but still more palatable. He's like the "Gingrich Revolution" type of Tea-Partier.
*Toby Keith: Breaking: Toby Keith comes to the dark realization that he has more in common with Radical Islam and its converts.Hensch, Mark, "Toby Keith to perform men-only concert in Saudi Arabia amid Trump trip", The Hill (18 May 2017, 1:04 PM EDT). 
*Alan Keyes: I disowned my daughter for being gay; why shouldn't everyone else?!
* Steve King (Representative from Iowa 2003-2021): Not even bothering to hide his Neo-Nazism.Rynard, Pat, "Is That… Yep, Steve King Has A Confederate Flag On His Desk", Iowa Starting Line 6.10.16.Aronsen, Gavin, "Steve King Met with Leaders of Trump-Friendly Austrian Party with Nazi Roots", Iowan Informer 12.23.16.Beauchamp, Zack, "Rep. Steve King is hanging out with the German far right and tweeting racist buzzwords",Vox (Updated 9/26/16 at 5:00pm EDT). King thinks that Syrians are crossing thousands of miles of desert to rape and steal Iowan jobs. If not Syrians, then Mexicans.Reeve, Lesbeth, "Steve King Wants to Protect the Border from Cantaloupe-Sized Calves", The Atlantic 6.23.13. If not Mexicans, lesbians.Duffy, Nick, "Republican Steve King: Evidence for gay parenting could be fake, like global warming research", Pink News (9/16/16, at 2:28 PM). King is the same idiot who believed the Obergefell v. Hodges makes it legal to "marry your lawn mower". Now the only Republican congressman in Iowa. Great job guys!
*Kris Kobach: Current former SoS in Kansas and leader of the immigrants are stealing our votes! voter ID push in the U.S. after harping about how sacred voting is, he likely committed election fraud and then stonewalled any investigation into the actual tampering of our election.
*The Cock Koch brothers: If you don't know, you haven't been paying attention.
*Matt Krause: Going to law school at Liberty must consist of three years of being hit in the face with a bust of Jerry Falwell as the instructor screams at you, "WIVES SUBMIT TO THEIR HUSBANDS!"Barr, Alice, "Fort Worth Lawmaker Wants to Ban "No-Fault" Divorce", NCDFW.
*Jon Kyl (Senator from Arizona 1995-2013, 2018, Senate Minority Whip, 2007-2013): >90% of Planned Parenthood's activities are abortions. But that's not intended to be a factual statement.https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/04/kyls-not-intended-be-factual-statement-now-also-not-intended-be-statement/349925/. Thanks McCain, we really needed this guy back.
*Art Laffer: Wrote the empirical proof that the rich are taxed enough alrehehehehahahaBinelli, Mark, [http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-kansas-tea-party-disaster-20141023 "The Great Kansas Tea Party Disaster" 23 October 2014.Giles, Chris, " Supply-side guru Arthur Laffer hails Trump’s tax policy - Former Ronald Reagan acolyte says cuts will lead to economic ‘nirvana’", FT 7 December 2017.
*Wayne LaPierre: In 1995, Wayne sent out a fundraising letter calling ATF agents "jack-booted thugs".This whole thing is dripping with crazy. George H.W. Bush resigned his lifetime membership from the NRA soon after.Letter of Resignation Sent By Bush to Rifle Association, via NYT 5.11.95.
*Tomi "No Label Millennial" Lahren: It's obvious the reason she gets any air time (looking at you, Trevor Noah) is because she's a young, pretty blonde. She has absolutely nothing to offer in terms of public discussion. Which is problematic for right-leaning women.
*Paul LePage (Governor of Maine 2011-2019): Pledged to veto every Democratic-sponsored bill until they agree to kill the income tax.Morretto, Mario, "LePage: I’ll veto every Democratic bill until Legislature agrees to kill income tax", Bangor Daily News (Friday, Feb. 26, 2016 | Last update: 10:24 a.m.). Warned of black mobs invading from New York (and Connecticut!) with the intention of knocking up our white women. Keeps comparing the IRS to Nazi Germany, but ignores the mounting evidence that a GOP-ruled America would be Nazi Germany. Ordered the removal of a mural depicting the state's labor history, because it's too "one-sided" in favor of employees.Stone, Matthew, "Labor mural unveiled at new home, the Maine State Museum in Augusta", BDN (Posted Jan. 14, 2013, at 10:04 a.m. | Last modified Jan. 14, 2013, at 5:42 p.m.). Wants to repeal the ACA, rewrite the ACA 99.99% the same, but name it "Republicans for Economical Medicine" and call it a victory.Bendery, Jeffrey, "Maine Gov. LePage, Who Vetoed Medicaid Expansion, Wants To 'Find A Way' To Help Uninsured", HuffPo (10/21/2014 10:43 pm ET | Updated Oct 22, 2014). Somebody stop him.
*Mike Lee (Senator from Utah 2011-present): We're confused. We thought Tea Partiers were mad at the "squishes" because they always promise to achieve conservative goals and fail. But in this case (the debt ceiling and repealing Obamacare), Cruz and Mike Lee did fail, they just failed harder and louder than the "RINOs". Is this what passes for success in Republican circles these days?
*Mark "Master Shake" Levin:Mark Levin Sounds Like Master Shake. The poor man's Michael Savage. (And brother, that's a poor man to be.) He considers anyone to the left of the Neo-Confederacy a "centrist",Blue, Miranda, "Mark Levin: Religious Right Voters Are Centrists Because They're Not As Extreme As Neo-Confederates", Right Wing Watch (Saturday, 9/27/2014 10:32 am.) meaning Fox News is too liberal for him. Mark Levin now claims that Trump is "not a Conservative" but a "populist". Levin has to justify his outrage factoryBoehlmert, Eric, "Right-wing civil war: Bloggers admit AM nut Mark Levin can't tell the truth", Media Matters (September 16, 2010 8:50 AM EDT). somehow, and as a "real conservative", he just can't have voted for Trump based on his conservative beliefs; therefore, Trump is a populist.
*Dana Loesch: REALLY loves her guns (possibly physically), former writer for Breitbart, had her own show on The Blaze, spews out racist bullshit every chance she gets, and former minister of propaganda spokeswoman for the NRA. Dana Loesch is the model female teabagger.
*Michelle Malkin: The token Coulter, only with even less integrity.
*Pat McCrory (Governor of North Carolina 2013-17): McCrory lost. Why is he still obsessed with trans men and where they are allowed to defecate?Bennett, Abbie, "McCrory talks Trump, House Bill 2 on CNN", New Observer (1/16/17 at 11:58 AM). Answer: It's gotten him further than his intelligence and charm would have. Now he's on the national stage with the Republicans in their Final Form, instead of being remembered as a figurehead for his friends at Duke Energy. Maybe they'll even forget that he burned the capital down so he wouldn't have to share his toys with anyone. Just a friendly reminder that we're talking about adults and not children — adults in public service, too.Woodbury, Adalia, " Inspired By Donald Trump, Republican Governor Refuses to Concede Defeat", Politicus USA (11/10/16 at 8:54 pm).Graham, David A., "North Carolina's 'Legislative Coup' Is Over, and Republicans Won", Atlantic 12.16.16. He's running for an open Senate seat in 2022, so unfortunately, he may have more opportunities to make hell for trans people.Bridget Bowman,. Roll Call, 14 April 2021. 
*Ed Mangano: Well, see, the real problem is that he didn't cut taxes enough. If he'd dropped them all the way to zero, Nassau would be rolling in funds! /libertarianHalbfinger, David B., One year after electing tea Party candidate, one of Americas wealthiest counties goes broke., NYT 10.10.10. He's a dumbass for not cutting spending while cutting taxes. That's what libertarians propose — less government. Not just less taxes. He didn't even follow the Tea Party platform, he just took the worst parts of two major ideologies and jammed them together.
*Chris Mapp: Hello state that is 38% Hispanic! Vote for me to be your Senator so I can kick out all the wetbacks!Parker, Kolten, "South Texas Senate hopeful slammed for racial slur", My San Antonio (Updated 2/21/14 11:00 pm).
*Gavin McInnes: Disgraced writer for Vice, apex of the 'demented aristocrat' part of the far right. Also founder of the Proud Boys, a bunch of 'ironically' racist Nazis. Beatings will continue until you can name five breakfast cereals.Proud Boys Initiation Ritual.
*Sid Miller (Representative from Texas 2001-13): Good News: As SecAg, he'll no longer be a Texas embarrassment. Bad News: He'll be a national embarrassment.Smith, Morgan, "Sid Miller: Complaints Over Rodeo, "Jesus Shot" are Harassment", Texas Tribune (4/13/16 at 2:30 AM).Bernier, Nathan, "Sid Miller Defends Fake News on His Facebook Page: 'I'm Not a News Source' (Updated)", KUT 90.5 12.12.16.Parker, Kolten, "Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller compares snakes to refugees, likes 'dead ones won't bite' comment", My San Antonio (Updated 11/19/15 at 2:27 pm.)
*Stephen Miller (Senior Advisor to the President 2017-present): A Neo-Nazi in Republican's clothing. We know, that describes most of the GOP these days, but it's especially true here.
*Roy Moore: He was booted off the Alabama Supreme Court for being a religious fanatic — twice. Believes that America was better during slavery,Haltiwanger, John, "Roy Moore: Last Time America Was 'Great' Was During 'Slavery', Newsweek (12/7/17, 6:42 PM) and of course, there's the whole pedophilia thing. Arguably the most unelectable Senate candidate in recent memory. (Yet 48.3% of voters — 651,972 Alabamans — voted for him. That says as much about Alabamans as it does about Roy.)
*Robert Morrow: GOP Chair in Austin. Robert Morrow's twitter is the stuff of legends. Terrible legends.Fechter, Joshua, "The 18 craziest tweets by Robert Morrow, newly elected chairman of Travis County Republican Party (that we can publish, at least)", MySA (Updated 3/3/16, 1:10 pm).
*Mick Mulvaney (Representative from South Carolina 2011-2017, Director of the Office of Management and Budget 2017-2020, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 2017-2018, Chief of Staff 2018-2020): His excuse for the Trump Administration cutting free meal programs in schools was that they weren't "proven" to be beneficial to children during the day. Bland, Meredith, "White House: ‘Feeding Hungry Kids Hasn’t Been Proven To Help Performance’" Pardon us while we bang our heads repeatedly against the wall. 
*Grover Norquist: Grover, sensing a chance to weed out unfaithful conservatives, jumped on the bandwagon early. But Tea Partiers weren't fooled: These people know a crypto-Muslim when they see one!Adams, Paige, "Cathie Adams (Tea Party): Grover Norquist 'Showing Signs Of Converting To Islam' Because He Has A Beard", HuffPo (06/01/2013 03:35 pm ET). ZZ Top must be mullahs. (And the Tea Party has officially outdone the John Birch Society.)
*Chuck Norris: He has even threatened to run for president himself. Not of the United States – of Texas, if it decides to secede and again become a separate republic.
*Ted Nugent (Tea Party "deputy"): God, guns, and "EXTREME MODERATION!"
*Christine O'Donnell: Coached to act like a poor, victimized little woman to garner sympathy and votes from people as brainless as her. If only she spent as much time on elocution lessons. (What the heck is "lock, step and barrel", anyway?)
*Candace Owens: Absolutely convinced that white supremacy isn't real, racism is dead, Democrats are the root of all evil, and anyone who says differently is just whining for attention. Also, she's Kanye West's BFF. 
*Sarah Palin (Governor of Alaska 2006-09): If you want to understand the Tea Party, consider this. From their point of view, the only redeeming thing about McCain '08 was Sarah Palin. (But Palin's the main reason you were stuck with a "lying communist".) Trump has had his sights on this for some time, and Palin showed him the way.
*Carl Paladino: Another colorful (and failed) Teabagger from New York. Owns a rent-a-car business in Buffalo, and affixed birther bumper stickers to all of the cars.Celock, John, "Birther Thrifty Car: Buffalo Rental Cars Sport 'Vote For The American' Bumper Stickers", HuffPo (10/26/2012 03:52 pm ET | Updated Oct 26, 2012). Currently co-chairman of Trump's New York campaign.
*Dan "God Over Country" Patrick (Senator from Texas 2007-15, Lieutenant Governor of Texas 2015-present): A Limbaugh wannabe who thinks God speaks through Duck Dynasty,Murphy, Tim, "Man Who Believes God Speaks to Us Through "Duck Dynasty" Is About to Be Texas' Second-in-Command", Mother Jones (21 October 2014, 6:30 AM). and that pedophiles take advantage of so-called "bathroom bills" to assault women and children.Ura, Alexa, "Bathroom Fears Flush Houston Discrimination Ordinance", Texas Tribune (3 November 2015, 7:08 PM). Other states with similar policies have never had that problem… but it plays well with moonshiners led by ayatollahs like Dan Patrick.Watch Texas Senator Dan Patrick Snipe And Holler His Way Through A Sex Ed HearingHamilton, Jessica, "Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick deletes "reap what you sow" tweet after mass shooting at LGBT club", Houston Chronicle (Updated 12 Junes 2016, 1:37 pm).
*Rand Paul (Senator from Kentucky 2011-present): Oh right, Rand Paul still exists. And he's still a senator, apparently. You'd think he'd go the Gary Johnson route and sell himself as a sane alternative to what Trump is peddling, but here he is, proudly throwing his last stopped clock overboard. His presidential campaign was a non-starter; Ron Paul might be their man, but Trump is their leader.
* Mike "Shoot the Gays With Tesla Rays" Pence (Governor of Indiana 2013-2017, "Vice" President 2017-2021): Sure, he'd appoint Falwell Jr. to the Supreme Court and be a scourge on humanity, but if Trump were to quit or be impeached, Pence would be a return to normalcy. Yes, folks, it has come to that! He was nearly lynched during the 2021 coup attempt for "betraying" Trump by being willing to concede defeat.
*Rick Perry (Governor of Texas 2000-15, Secretary of Energy 2017-2019): Too smart for the Tea Party, ouch.Nuzzi, Olivia, "Tea Party Unloads on 'Complete Imbecile' Rick Perry", The Daily Beast (09.04.14 2:45 AM ET). When Rick Perry is trying to talk you down from the ledge, something has gone seriously wrong somewhere. And by "something", we mean "everything".Hall, Colby, "Rick Perry Taken Aback By Audience Cheering Hypothetical Death Of Uninsured Man", Mediate (9/13/11 3:55 pm).
*Katrina Pierson: She's behind scam PACs like Draft Gowdy for SpeakerCaruso, Jay, "Bogus Tea Party Groups Continue To Try And Rip People Off", RedState(16, October 2015, 8:10 pm). — which is still up and running, in fact. Update: Come to think of it, she essentially disappeared after Kellyanne was hired. We've really missed her uniquely insightful commentary.Man, remember the patriotism we all felt when Obama got up on the rubble of the World Trade Center and shouted, "I hear you!" (Poor Biden, though, having to go to that undisclosed location in case there were further attacks.)Allon, Janet, "Here are the 12 craziest things about Trump's spokeswoman, Texas Tea Partier Katrina Pierson", Raw Story 1.6.16.
*Larry Pittman (Representative from North Carolina 2012-present): ABRADOLF LINCLER!Billman, Jeffrey C., "N.C. Representative Larry Pittman Calls Abraham Lincoln the “Same Sort (of) Tyrant” as Hitler and We Are Not Even Making That Up", Indy Week (4/12/17 at 3:19 PM). Isn't this the same dumbass who thought he could overrule SCOTUS on gay weddings, or are they just all starting to look alike?Plemmons, Jeff, "Ford, Pittman and Speciale: Ban gay marriage, U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t apply in N.C. ", Independent Tribune 4.12.17.
*Joe the Plumber: Not really named Joe and not really a plumber, but asked Barack Obama some question at one of his events.
*Tom Price (Representative from Georgia 2005-17, Chair of the House Budget Committee 2015-17, Secretary of Health and Human Services 2017-2017): Insider trading: the illegal practice of trading on the stock exchange to one's own advantage through having access to confidential information.Arnsdorf, Isaac, "Price had the power to sell his healthcare stock", Politico (18 January 2017, 11:03 PM EST). 
*Reince Priebus (White House Chief of Staff 2017-2017): Formerly the chairman of the RNC. Colbert noted that if you remove the vowels from his name it spells RNC PR BS.
*Wayne Allyn Root: A talking head for Newsmax. Thinking being born anywhere other than America is a "curse."
*Marco Rubio (Senator from Florida 2011-present): Anthropologists have classified the species known as Suitis Emptius as an invertebrate.Everett, Burgess, "Rubio to back Tillerson, effectively ensuring confirmation", Politico (Updated 01/23/17 11:15 AM EST). He hails from the Tea Party movement, but Trump took that "grassroots" support away.
*Mark Sanford (Representative from South Carolina 2013-2019): Once offered the unemployed only "prayer". In a better world, he'd be the one begging for a job, but Democrats aren't going to waste time on SC. Despite having copious resources, they lost by 10 points in 2013. Never mind.https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/south-carolina-house-district-1
*Michael Savage a.k.a. Michael Weiner: Mental infant.
*Steve Scalise (Representative from Louisiana 2008-present, House Majority Whip 2014-2018, House Minority Whip 2018-present): Nobody deserves to be shot. For any reason. But it takes a special kind of asshole to continue to advocate against gay rights after your life was saved by a gay woman."Steve Scalise will speak at anti-gay group’s forum months after lesbian cop saved his life", TheGrio (27 October, 2017)
*Anthony "The Mooch" Scaramucci (White House Communications Director 2017-2017): A foul-mouthed dandy who seems incapable of opening his mouth without saying something he'll immediately regret. Although somewhat well-informed on social issues like race, immigration, gun control, and gay marriage, he's still a hardcore Trump apologist who thinks that rich people are under attack. Fired from his position as Communications Director after only ten days because of his inability to keep his yap shut.
*Curt Schilling: A rich Tea Party moron from way back. (He formerly played for the Red Sox). Schilling is running on a platform of Infowars-type propaganda. The hatred for him spread like wildfire from Massachusetts to Rhode Island after that game dev fiasco."Rhode Island reaches $25.6M deal over Curt Schilling's failed video game company", Chicago Tribune (24 August 2016, 8:40am). We will enjoy seeing Warren mop the floor with him.
*Phyllis Schlafly: Chauvinist pigress.Volsky, Igor, "Women Need To Be Paid Less So They Can Find Husbands", ThinkProgress (4/15/14 11:30 am). My fellow Americans, I have the solution for our nation in these tough economic times! American families should earn half as much money, because white men are insecure about their sexuality. Older than dirt: enthusiastic antifeminist who led the opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment. Gave birth to Andy through immaculate conception. Popped her clogs in 2016 — though, only after endorsing Trump. Allegedly spent her own funeral whispering — from the other side — into a ghostly string can telephone held pressed against his tiny, childlike ear.http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/donald-trump-phyllis-schlafly-funeral-227994
*Jeff Sessions (Senator from Alabama 1997-2017, U.S. Attorney General 2017-2018): Somehow too racist to be confirmed in the 80s...Herbert, J. Gerald, "Why I told the Senate that Jeff Sessions thought civil rights groups were 'un-American'", WaPo 11.22.16.McCann, Erin, "Coretta Scott King's 1986 Statement to the Senate About Jeff Sessions", NYT 2.8.17. ...and yet here we are in 2017. It definitely answers the question ("What do you have to lose?") Trump posed to the black community. Rabidly anti-marijuana to boot. But those are exactly the types of people Duterte Trump used to become President. He needs bad hombres to point to.
*Ben Shapiro: The Colbert Report is worse than blackface!Marshall, John, "Conservative is the New Black", Talking Points Memo (4/14/14, 5:15 PM EDT). At least this disaster of a human being isn't writing for Breitbart any more.
*Tom "Drop Bombs Not Food" Tancredo: Ah, good 'ol Tom Tancredo. Ran for congress on a pledge of term limiting himself but broke it. Later ran for governor of Colorado and lost the primary, so he ran on the Constitution Party ticket. He just recently decided to register as an unaffiliated voter and wrote some op-Ed on Breitbart about the decision. The same man who says food stamps are the equivalent of "giving booze to an alcoholic" thinks the money would be better spent arming 100 million civilians to do battle with "Islamists" in the streets.Harris, Kyle, "Tancredo wants the U.S. to arm 100 million Americans to fight ‘Islamists’", Colorado Independent 12.8.15.
*Peter Thiel: Godfather of the Paypal Mafia.Parrish, Charlie, "Meet The PayPal Mafia, The Richest Group Of Men In Silicon Valley", Business Insider via The Telegraph (9/20/14 at 9:47 AM). This guy got away with running a regulation-free international bank for years, which is how he made his fortune: freezing the assets of people gullible enough to trust him with their money. If you have a parody in your head about Silicon Valley political views, Thiel is basically that. Except less coherent.Naughton, John, "The only living Trump supporter in Silicon Valley", The Guardian (5/22/16, 3:59 EDT). If we hadn't given the vote to women, we would have SPACE COLONIES by now!. If the alt-right ever figures out that Pete is a gay immigrant, they'll cut all ties with him. Or maybe not. The were useful.Piggot, Stephen, "PayPal Co-Founder Peter Thiel to Address White Nationalist-Friendly “Property and Freedom Society” Conference in September", Southern Poverty Law Center 6.9.16.
*Donald Trump (President 2017-2021): "God save the Queen, the fascist regime..." What a sad, shitty world we live in where Trump is the conservative wing's only hope. A real non-conservative, bad-pansy-ass,Michael K., "Donald Trump Screamed For The FBI After A Drug Lord's Son Threatened Him On Twitter", 7.13.16. straight-talkin' liar man with small hands, orange skin, and the world's most obvious combover is their only hope. But he's rich and hates women, Muslims, and Mexicans, and that's enough to clinch a Presidential election! (Daughterfucker. Don't forget that he said if he had his way he'd be a daughterfucker.)
*Richard Uihlein: Uihlein donates a lot of money to a lot of PACs. He has personally donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Walker Governor campaign in Wisconsin, and to Bruce Rauner in Illinois. Here's an article talking about his terrible campaign tactics, and general lack of humanity.Anderson, Molly, "Uline CEO tarnishes family name with ugly Chicago political race", Mount Pleasant Patch
(17 March 2014, 8:55 am ET). Some call him the Koch of Illinois.Merrion, Paul, "The Koch of conservative politics in Illinois: Uihlein", Chicago Business 28 September 2013.
*Maureen Tucker: Another Tea Party "celebrity".
*David Vitter (Senator from Louisiana 2005-2017): The heir apparent to Larry Craig as the Senate GOP's resident sex pest. But unlike Craig, he actually isn't gay. He just asks prostitutes to make him wear diapers. Good ol' Republican family values…
*Jon Voight: Flipped his lid a long time ago.So, this happened. As long as he's coherent, Fox will continue to trot him out to rallies and feed him pre-digested slogans.
*Scott Walker (Governor of Wisconsin 2011-2019): The incomparable voice behind the classic Sixties hit for The Walker Brothers, "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" He couldn't finish college, so now he's mad at educators. That, and his major donors include private/voucher school owners. His has got to be one of the worst Presidential campaigns ever; he's pretty much the Rick Perry of the 2016 cycle.
*Joe Walsh (Representative from Illinois 2011-13): Saying nigger is OK,Kelley, Marty, "What Is Free Speech Even Coming To When Joe Walsh Can’t Say The N-Word On The Radio?", Wonkette (6/20/14 at 10:40am). but electing a black guy president? The most racist thing that has ever happened. Poor Joe Walsh...
*Allen West (Representative from Florida 2011-13): "...I believe there's about 78 to 81 members of the Democrat Party who are members of the Communist Party. It's called the Congressional Progressive Caucus."
*Meg Whitman: Goldman Sachs executive. Like Trump, Whitman was a billionaire who wanted to buy an office and spent something like $117 mil of her own money. (Why would anyone spend that much for a job that pays $206,500 unless there was some kind of corruption planned?) For anyone who wasn't paying attention to California politics, she lost a race for Governor in which she managed to accidentally endorse her opponent."Why I Came to California" campaign ad. In 1970-whatever California was great! Now it's a shithole. I'll Make California Great Again! The problem was she was running against Jerry Brown, who became Secretary of State that exact year. Arguably one for the record books. Bonus: Whitman also shares a link with Jeb! Her campaign was run by Mike Murphy, who also ran Jeb's PAC, Right to Rise. He's very good at spending lots of money for minimal returns.
*Joe Wilson (Representative from South Carolina 2001-present): "YOU LIE!"
In Lawmaker’s Outburst, a Rare Breach of Protocol, The New York Times
==See also==
*UKIP — The Tea Party has begun to spread to other continents, like herpes.
*Rally to Restore Sanity
*Tea Party Organizers
*New Right (United States)
*Nippon Kaigi — This organization is closely related to Liberal Democratic Party (Japan). It is also evaluated as similar to a Tea Party.
*Alt-right, essentially the Tea Party if it were a teenager with a dirty mind
==External links==
*Tea Party Nation
*Tea Party Patriots
*The Tea Party Express
*
*
*A blog about the Tea Party attitude to science
*Chappelle's Show was ahead of its time.
*A history lesson from the Tea Party ("This Modern World" comic strip by Tom Tomorrow)
*The Truth About the Tea Party, Matt Taibbi's definitive takedown of the 'Baggers.
*Was the Tea Party founded in this Indiana dominatrix's fetish dungeon? - Daily Beast, 21 May 2017
*Hi, I'm a Tea-Partier
*Inaugural speeches: Trump vs. Bane
==Notes==
==References==
Category:9/11 truthers
Category:2021 U.S. Capitol riot
Category:Alt-lite
Category:Alt-right
Category:Anti-abortion activists
Category:Anti-vaccination movement
Category:Birtherism
Category:Chemophobes
Category:Conservative deceit
Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:Gun nuts
Category:Homophobia
Category:Internet kooks
Category:Islamophobia
Category:Kochsphere
Category:Libertarianism
Category:Militia movement
Category:Paleoconservatism
Category:Pseudoscience promoting organizations
Category:Purity culture
Category:Racism
Category:Right-wing activists
Category:Survivalism
Category:Tax protesters
*
Category:Thielsphere
Category:Transphobia
Category:United States politics
Category:War on science