Tea Party

Rebellion Against Coronavirus Lockdown

April 23, 2020 William I. Robinson, L. A. Progressive. Educate! Capitalism, Right-Wing, Tea Party, Trump

The nation (and world)-wide lockdown in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic has paralyzed much of the capitalist economy and therefore nearly ground to a halt the process of capital accumulation (profit making). That this economic paralysis throws tens of millions of workers into crises of survival is entirely incidental to the concern of the transnational capitalist class (TCC) to immediately resume profit-making, as capital cannot remain idle without ceasing to be capital. This drive to reignite accumulation lies behind the far-right public demonstrations demanding an end to the lockdown, in a way similar to how the most reactionary sectors of capital funded and promoted the Tea Party following the 2008 financial collapse, which in turn mobilized behind Trumpism.

The ‘Tea Party’ Playbook Can’t Beat Trump — Here’s What Will Work Instead

January 16, 2017 Arun Gupta, www.rawstory.com Strategize! Donald Trump, Tea Party

By Arun Gupta for Raw Story - After initially saying Democrats would try to align with Trump after his victory, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is finally leaning toward the only sensible response to the threat of right-wing extremism: Obstructionism. Schumer threw down the gauntlet in a CNN interview on Jan. 3. “The only way we’re going to work with [Trump] is if he moves completely in our direction and abandons his Republican colleagues.” But Schumer hedged as well by saying Democrats were not going to be the “party of no” the way Republicans were since 2008. He said, “We’re Democrats. We’re not going to just oppose things to oppose them.”

New Tea Party Tactic: Hire Actors To Play Protesters

April 9, 2015 Ben Adler, www.grist.org Educate! Protest, Republican, Tea Party

Here’s what happened: On Thursday, during a meeting of the South Florida Water Management District, “Tea Partiers” gathered outside to protest a state plan to purchase a big swath of the Everglades and protect it. But as the Palm Beach Postreports, they were mostly actors hired by the Tea Party of Miami and the company U.S. Sugar. The Tea Party chapter put the casting call out on Facebook, capturedby a reporter for Creative Loafing Tampa. They offered $75 cash to show up for two hours and hold banners and signs, which would be provided. It’s easy to see why they had such trouble filling out a crowd without paying for it. Everglades restoration is enormously popular in Florida.

Populism Is Back – On Both Sides Of Aisle

August 5, 2014 Pooja Bhatia, www.usatoday.com Educate! Elections, Occupy, Politics, Populism, Tea Party

It began on the fringes a few years ago, with the Tea Party. Then came the smart, motley crews of Occupy Wall Street. The following summer, then-Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren used her Democratic National Convention keynote to talk about hard-working people up against a system that's rigged against them. Glimmers all — until this season of primaries and midterms and a looming presidential campaign. Get out your pitchforks, everyone, because populism is back. From left to right, American politicians are picking up a populist mantle that's been stuffed in a closet for about 100 years. Senator Warren's crusading about it on book tour; the enraptured crowds want her to run for president. In June, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was soundly defeated in a primary by Tea Party member David Brat, an economist who spent his campaign talking about how bankers should've gone to jail after the 2008 financial crisis. Last week, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan jumped in with an anti-poverty plan whose raison d'etre could have been cribbed from Warren's book: "Both big government and big business like to stack the deck in their favor. And though they are sometimes adversaries, they are far too often allies."

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