Will the anti-Trump protests give rise to a "Tea Party of the Left"?

Politics & Elections
1

First off, I hope this is the correct sub-forum. The description says discussion of political parties. If not, mods please move with my apologies.

I had been wondering about some parallels in the form & intensity of the current protests and the early formation of the Tea Party. A recent segment on Vice News about the recent town hall meetings of some Republican congress people mentioned the similarities as well. So what does the Straight Dope think: will an organized extreme left element arise in the Democrat party? As a moderate, even more partisanship scares me but if it gave rise to centrist third party it could be a good thing.

2

I think we’re seeing that begin with the Indivisible movement. In fact, its organizers are quite explicit that they’re taking their ideas from the Tea Party movement.

3

I am *not *wearing a goddamned tricorne.

4

I wouldn’t call it a Tea Party Left or anything like that. The TP was an astroturf movement funded by the Kochs and motivated by Hate Radio, consisting of ignorant rubes acting on the lies they were fed as well as racists who couldn’t abide the thought of a black president.

The Resistance movement is a true grassroots effort of better informed citizens rising up against the most evil person in history ever to occupy the White House.

One thing that will NEVER happen is the rise of a centrist third party. There will never be a viable third party in the US, those are just the havens of the kooks as well as those that never want to bear any responsibility for their votes.

5

Come the Anti-Trump Revolution, you will wear tricornes and you will like them!

6

Anybody else remember singing Mein Hut Der Hat Drie Ekken in elementary school? I can’t look at a tricorne without thinking of that song.

7

Maybe. Is that “They Eyes of Texas Are Upon You” in some foreign language?

8

Maybe I shouldn’t have used the term, “Tea Party of the Left” since Tea Party carries a lot of baggage. What I was trying to get at is an organized partisian extremist wing within a political party.

9

I doubt it, since the American left is heavily fragmented and organizing them is like herding cats. The main issue that galvanizes them is fear of the right. Another problem is that the Tea Party was a boon to the business elite, whereas the left wants to put in more environmental regulations, crack down on Wall Street, strengthen labor, rein in the military-industrial complex, and so on.

10

Tactics, not ideas. A different thing entirely.

11

Never heard of it, but looking on Youtube, it looks like we learned the English version of that song: “My hat has three corners; three corners has my hat,” and that’s about all I remember. Never knew it was a German song.

12

Yeah but that was what I was getting at and am seeing. Entirely different set of underlying ideas but actions that have some things in common. The Tea Party started with very grassroots protests (remember the misspelled signs that we all made fun of) and getting in Congress critter’s faces at town hall meetings and writing letters & emails to Congress. The early Tea Party wasn’t monolithic in belief until later on. All of this is very similar to what I am seeing happening now on the Left.

So the question is will the current grassroots actions grow into something coherent, organized, and lasting. Will we see primary challenges to Democrats In Name Only?

13

“extremist”? Most of the protesters are supporting quite reasonable issues. And reacting to a dangerous fool & the more dangerous advisers & congresscritters taking advantage of his dementia.

Why be afraid of being a “partisan”? That is, having an opinion & working to get it across? That’s called being politically active–instead of apathetic.

14

Extreme partisanship leads to an inability to compromise witness the Tea Party willing to shutdown the government over the debt ceiling. Living in a complex society is much like a business deal with a long term customer which requires making compromises/deals where all parties don’t get all they want but can live with the deal.

I agree the current protests aren’t extreme but movements can take on lives of their own. For the record, I agree with the protestors on most things.

15

I certainly hope not. The thing that characterized the Tea Party was the rejection of moderates within the Republican party. It wasn’t just “we hate Obama”, it was “vote against anyone who is not a radical reactionary”. The closest thing we had to a left wing Tea Party was probably the Bernyites. Those who felt that Hillary wasn’t progressive enough to deserve their vote and both parties are in the pocket of wall street so it doesn’t matter who wins.

I hope that those people have learned their lesson, and have come to their senses that while they may prefer fresh squeezed lemon aid to HiC fruit punch, that both are far better than battery acid which is the alternative. At this point I think even the most progressive activist is likely to support any candidate as long as there isn’t an R after their name.

If a large portion of the left responds to Trump by rejecting all candidates who don’t agree with Slavery Reparations, a 90% top tax bracket, cutting defense spending in half and other far left ideas, then we will be doomed to live in Trump land for the foreseeable future.

16

“Tea Party of the Left” sounds too much like a “me too” effort name, and “Coffee Party” sounds too coastal elite. We want to attract the undecided as well as disgruntled reasonable Trump voters.

How about "Whiskey Rebellion?":cocktail:

17

I’m not even sure it’s necessarily from the Tea Party. When the opponent holds all the houses, including the White one, there’s really no option but to delay, delay, delay. Use every tool to try to mitigate the damage that Trump and cronies (including congresscritters) are guaranteed to try to do. I’d say the model is more Senate Republicans as a whole than the Tea Party.

And it includes screaming long and loud about every bullshit policy they try to enact. Let them complain about how ‘childish’ their opponents are. I couldn’t care less what some asshole conservative thinks of me. Matter of fact, I’d take it more as a compliment that they’re talking shit.

18

There is going to be a lot of activism by the left under Trump and the GOP congress. However I don’t think they will go full tea party.

For one thing, the tea party seemed to feel it was better to have a democrat win a race rather than have a republican who they felt wasn’t sufficiently conservative. I hope that the left as a whole doesn’t feel this way, that it is better to have a republican than a moderate democrat in charge. I’ve met Sanders supporters who felt unless Sanders won the primary, it was pointless to support Clinton. But I believe they were the vast minority of Sanders voters.

But yes, certain aspects like showing up at town halls seems to be taken from the tea party movement.

The real question is can the rise of the activist left actually lead to political change, will 2018 see a rise in democratic seats gained in state legislatures and possibly taking back the federal house of representatives? Will it be effective in preventing the repeal of Obamacare?

19

The left lacks the funding of the right. However the left does have their own funding mechanisms.

The netroots
wealthy liberals (usually people who got rich in IT, entertainment or fields like that)
Labor unions

They can’t raise as much money as the right can, but the left has those. Also my impression is liberals have more human capital than the tea party. Liberals tend to be younger and healthier, better educated, more likely to work in STEM fields, more reality based, better at using technology, etc compared to the average tea party type. So I’d hope that that can translate into some efficiencies that can compensate for the lack of funding.

A group called the Democracy Alliance in Colorado did a good job of bringing together wealthy funders with various liberal groups to all work together to push progressive causes. The Democracy Alliance got wealthy individuals, unions, trial lawyer associations, etc. to put up the funding and it got environmental groups, justice reform groups, LGBT groups, minority rights groups, feminist groups, animal rights groups, etc. to work together.

But we will see. I’ve been wrong about a lot of things these last 10 years, usually wrong in ways designed to push my own agenda.

20

There’s one major, basic difference, and that is money. The Tea Party started with a spark of plain folks populism, but it was quickly and thoroughly co-opted. How quickly was it, in your own recollection, between the breath of it and the arrival of totally professional tours? Buses, stages, stage manager, lighting and sound people. well paid professionals all. They packaged and sold the Tea Party Experience, like a second rate Kiss tribute band on the road.

And brand names, like Dick Armey’s Tea Party Express. A special favorite of mine, when he announced that the Tea Party populists were totally behind Verizon and Comcast in their ongoing struggle with Big Government regulation. Nothing the common, everyday American loves more than the cable company! Warms their heart, it does…

This current iteration doesn’t have the money, no one is donating the slick professionalism that adorned the Tea Party. And like OWS, it isn’t structured, you can’t arrest and harass the leaders, doesn’t have any. Some lady out west said, hey, lets march, and they did. The Tea Party had, at least to some degree, made protesting respectable! (Which is kind of a shame, really, but what the hell, life is change, how it differs from the rocks…)

They’re normal. More than anything else, this is not the left vs the right, this is the sane vs the batshit. Trump’s base is not the majority and the normals are protesting their presumption of a level of power that can only be legitimately wielded by a solid and overwhelming majority. Maybe there is a level of electoral victory that entitles the winners to tear the country a new asshole and then turn it inside out. But losing the popular vote ain’t it. And knowing that is normal, grounded, the good sense God gave a goose.

So, they don’t have an ideology, nor a plan, nor an agenda. No Central Committee. Just normal people who don’t want to be governed by crazy people.