U.S. Representative Keith Self (R-TX) is voicing his frustration, like many in his party, regarding the proposed $1.2 trillion spending bill. Self writes on X: “Remember when the Tea Party movement began in 2009 in response to massive government spending and overreach?”
Self added: “Patriots, we need that same energy from you again. Many of your leaders in Washington are not listening!”
[Note: When Self assumed office in January 2023, he said that he considers the growth of U.S. national debt “the existential threat that our nation faces today.” He was one of the 71 Republicans who voted against the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 to raise the debt ceiling until January 2025.]
Sarah Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and former Alaska governor remembers the Tea Party movement well. She was the keynote speaker at the first Tea Party convention in Nashville in 2010.
TEA Party: it’s exactly what we need. But this time, don’t wimp out. Don’t let the fake news’ mocking, ostracizing, marginalizing & silencing those on the front lines destroy our movement. Ok?? Those on the front lines NEED REINFORCEMENTS… we need you for such a time as this.… https://t.co/kp2KVSVEUv pic.twitter.com/ynHig2GiZA
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) March 21, 2024
Palin responded to Self’s post by writing on X: “TEA Party: it’s exactly what we need. But this time, don’t wimp out. Don’t let the fake news’ mocking, ostracizing, marginalizing & silencing those on the front lines destroy our movement. Ok?? Those on the front lines NEED REINFORCEMENTS… we need you for such a time as this.”
The DNA of the Tea Party remains present in today’s MAGA movement — Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) is a prominent example of a politician who bridges the two movements. Though by 2016, Politico was already writing that the GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump had “utterly eclipsed” the Tea Party movement and claimed it was “pretty much dead now.”
Yet before Trump virtually replaced the Tea Party with MAGA, he praised the forerunner in terms he still commonly uses to describe his own position, as when he said in 2015 in Nashville that “the Tea Party people are incredible people. These are people who work hard and love the country and they get beat up all the time by the media.”