Ten years ago, more than one million supporters of the tea party movement protested in several US cities: against the state rescue of large banks, against the growing national debt, against the then President Barack Obama, whom many considered a „socialist“.
One of the early spokesmen for this conservative protest movement was Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. At an event in 2010, Palin announced the libertarian credo of the early tea party movement: „The government that governs least rules best.“
Trump’s proximity to the tea party
The tea party movement was a pool of libertarians who demanded less state and less regulation, disgruntled fiscal conservatives who warned Washington against the „spending juggernaut“ and white citizens who wanted to limit immigration strictly.
Early on, Donald Trump appeared as a speaker at tea party events and spread the so-called „Birther“ lie: Obama was unlawfully president, because he was allegedly not born in the US. In 2011, Trump announced to Tea Party supporters that he was planning a presidential petition to prevent Obama’s re-election:
„If I compete and win, then our country will be respected again, and I will deal with China, OPEC and all the many other nations that are ripping off our great land.“
„The power to blow the establishment“
Trump did not start in 2012 yet. And Obama was re-elected. However, many Tea Party Republicans invaded both Congress chambers and refused to cooperate with Obama. In the 2016 election campaign, the Tea Party was initially undecided: some support the libertarian Senator Rand Paul, others Ted Cruz, but most gathered behind the candidate whom Tea Party spokeswoman Palin praised as „a new-born, the establishment to blow up „.
Trump reaped the fruits of the anger of the tea party movement. Many members of that time are today convinced Trumpists. They are pleased that Trump has lowered taxes, deregulated regulations and wants to limit immigration. But other Tea Party members are appalled by Trump’s protectionist trade policy and nationalism. This group also includes Matt Kibbe, formerly head of a Tea Party think tank and today Trump critic:
„Donald Trump split the tea party into two camps, and his policies destroyed the unity of the movement, which used to have a stringent political philosophy.“
It has become quiet
Ten years after its launch, the tea party movement has come to a standstill. Hardly anyone in Congress is still upset about America’s growing public debt. The annual budget deficit has risen to a record $ 1 trillion as a result of Trump’s tax cuts.
