What Would a Left Wing Tea Party Even Look Like?
Ahem, It'd Look Like PurpleAmerica on Steroids
Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s DOGE disaster continues to run roughshod unabated over our institutions. The blowback has been so strong and immediate, Republican legislators are getting an earful at constituent meetings in their districts. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, sheepishly called them “paid protestors,” but from the videos and the outrage, everyone can see with their own two eyes they are anything but. These are local residents pissed at what Trump and Musk are doing. As I mentioned last week, I haven’t seen this kind of energy and animosity toward government since the Tea Party started in 2009. How it started and what it became are two different things entirely, but the main things to remember right now is that 1) Republicans were completely shut out of power then, just as Democrats are now, 2) there was a high level of economic anxiety then (housing collapse) as there is now (inflation)1; and there was an easily obtained perception that the Executive Branch was overreaching with its authority to do very unpopular things. Add all these up, and it’s like throwing kerosene on a fire.
Then I saw an article asking “What would a Blue Tea Party actually look like?” It got me thinking. Some of it we’ve seen before, but other aspects, if the tent is to grow, would look exceptionally different. Below are my thoughts on different aspects of how this energy can and should grow.
Early Adoption
The start of the Tea Party grew starting from an independent and non-partisan position—absolute disgust at the banks and the bailouts that transcended party label. Everyone could get on that train. What changed it was Obama’s Health Care bill that seemed like too much, and the Republicans astroturfed Tea Party leadership into that focus. That’s when it became the “Tea Party” that we’ve come to remember and loathe.
Disgust at Musk and DOGE transcends party. People genuinely don’t like what he’s doing, there is zero transparency into it and voters are pissed at the mockery it has become. Trump has managed to keep his hands clean among Republican voters, but to everyone else his numbers are sinking faster than the Titanic. This presents a genuine opportunity to bring in swing, independent and center-right voters into an anti-Trump coalition, but it has to feel strong, friendly and welcoming. The other thing it has to be, what all successful political groups start as, is that it has to be FUN. If it is just carping, and whining, and complaining, it’s like every Democratic protest of the last 3 years. Nobody wants to be a part of that. There needs to be a level of non-offensive pageantry involved here to get people interested and onboard. That’s how movements begin.
Leadership
Someone wrote on Substack this week that AOC should be the face of the growing anti-Trump “Blue Tea Party-esque” movement. I can think of nobody worse for it really. She’s a socialist, she’s from New York, she’s hated by anyone right of Pelosi and is absolutely loathed west of the NY state. If you want to kill a movement in it’s infancy, she’s who’d you appoint.
But that also demonstrates the problem with this level of energy. Democrats are faced with two options; 1) move in a more progressive direction, which many of its activists want, or 2) broaden the tent bring in more people and fuel a bigger movement. The former narrows the message and focus and makes the Democratic party smaller and more siloed, while the latter broadens it, brings in more voters and becomes more of a political force, but its not what the activists want. Such is the paradox. They should go with broadening the base, but I fear they may not. If the messaging is driven by the progressive base, it’ll slow the movement as it becomes the same thing as the Women’s March or the March for our Lives; preaching to the already converted.
Democrats are lacking in leadership right now; no one person is really stepping forward to point the party in any direction. Some argue that’s a bad thing; I don’t. That ambiguity, that openness to see where things develop and move as it grows is a plus in my opinion. Leadership can constrain, box in and exert too much control over solid grassroots movements like this. The best leadership at this point is none at all, see where it goes and then surf the waves as the tide comes in. This will work in it’s favor as you turn the corner into the 2028 Presidential cycle and get a broad spectrum of viewpoints running.2
This also has the advantage too of playing into the strength of the party, which is BROAD. When leaders and groups take too much of a role, it gets stifling. The recent DNC VP elections demonstrated everything wrong with the current party. The party needs to change, open up3 and adapt and listen to what the grassroots are telling them, not get bogged down in arbitrary identity headcounts and payoffs to interest groups. They need the energy that independent grassroots movements bring, and if they listen and reform adequately, they’ll benefit for the next decade.
Political consultant James Carville recently said that he doesn’t mind the lack of a Democratic response to what is going with DOGE yet, under the idea that when you’re enemy is making mistakes, don’t interrupt them.4 I tend to agree. There’s plenty of time for party leadership to get their act together. Right now, the trainwreck is on the other side, and letting them self combust and tear down the government you don’t want to distract from—it’s what’s powering the energy toward Democrats right now.
Interest Groups and Diversity/Unity.
Democratic rallies and protests have been offputting for years, speaking from the outside looking in. You see pink hats. You see BLM signs. You see LGBTQIA+ flags waving. You see various bundled interest group paraphernalia. You see T-Shirts for every issue under the sun. Yeah, leave that shit at home this time.
You see, all of those messages are fragmenting. They represent disunifying themes, members of individual groups, not of a cohesive whole. The more people shout “diversity” and “inclusion” the more attention is paid to the minority groups that compose those mantras, not anyone outside of them. And we all saw how well that worked the last four years. People don’t want to hear how much more special and important this one group is over another group. When that’s the goal, it shuts out most people in some way; its a self referential silo. Things work better when everyone is committed to a goal with no thought to those demographic or interest group identities; everyone working as one. Think of each of the individual interest groups as fingers of a hand. Think of them all working together, without pointing out those differences as a fist.
What you want is a unifying theme. Something simple, something people from any background or group can get behind, something patriotic that symbolizes your support for AMERICA not just as a country but an idea. Red, White and Blue (or Purple!), flags, the Statue of Liberty, Americana! People think it’s corny, but what the Tea Party did in 2010 was incorporate that into their pageantry. This movement should too—it should demonstrate what TRUE patriotism looks like! In 2026, we’re hosting the World Cup! That should spark some positive nationalism (even though our soccer team is a little mediocre on a global scale). Next year, an ELECTION year no less, will be our 250th Birthday— praising and supporting our Declaration of Independence, and all the ways Trump resembles the very tyrants we described in it, would go a long way to gathering support everyone can get behind.5
Where it Goes From Here.
That’s just to get started. There are going to be AMPLE opportunities over the coming year to grow this movement and see where it goes. Trump’s Speech to Congress (this is what the State of the Union speech is in the first year of a presidency) is coming up, and there is no doubt there will be boatloads of shit to complain about in that nihilist demolition zone.6 7
From there, Trump is bound to offer a toxic combination of deficit booming tax cuts, mindless corrupt spending, and constant barrage of inane babble that will make it exceptionally easy to rally the troops, the middle of the electorate, and everyone else to campaign against. He’s a shitty President. He does shitty things. His SUPPORTERS do shitty things, and they’re increasingly becoming more vocal in their shittiness. Bad things will happen at home and abroad, demonstrating with a clear focus his incompetence in such matters. I’m telling you, there’s going to be a smorgasbord of opportunity here to corral the energy into the direction you want it to go, but for now the best thing you can do is help stoke the fires broadly to get as many people as possible engaged and on your side. The more people who get engaged, the more successful Democrats will be when they’ll be there come November 2026.
Finally, the name.
With as much creative people aligned with Democrats, you’d think they could give a movement like this a name. But alas, usually they just fall back on “Blue Wave” or “Blue Tsunami” stuff. That’s too bad for a couple reasons. First, it lacks all imagination. Second, it maintains a focus on the “left” end of the political spectrum, such a narrow view of the electorate, when you want to bring in people more broadly than that.
You need something broader.
You need something people can get behind.
You need something that says to independents, moderates and centrists that you are with us.
You need a welcoming hand, a bigger tent and to make these people seem at ease with the movement, while they get fired up with outrage at the right.
It’s almost as if “PurpleAmerica” would be the perfect name for this movement.
PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day
Over the weekend was our “missed” Leap Day—we won’t have another one until 2028. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a nice Leap Day fact.
You may have already surmised that Leap Day (February 29th) is the date with the least amounts of births, and you’d be right seeing it only occurs once every four years. However, when controlled to just years with Leap Years in them, it doesn’t even make the top 20. Regardless, February is the least common birthday month (only 28/29 days), but still, it’s followed by April, December and March, two of which have 31 days.
So what are the days with the least amount of births? Well, when you see the list you won’t be shocked. A lot of this has to do with them being days when C-sections are almost never scheduled. The days are 1) Christmas Day, 2) New Years Day, 3) Christmas Eve, 4) July 4th, and 5) Thanksgiving.
PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject
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Footnotes and Fun Stuff
The anxiety was MUCH bigger then, as we thought we were on the brink of another depression and hawking over economic data for any glimpse as to whether we’d have jobs the following week.
For those AOC stans out there, do I think she’ll be a candidate? Yes. Do I think she’ll do well? Hell no. She’s the equivalent of a Michelle Bachman running; she’s popular with the die hards but nobody else. What she can be good at is leveling haymakers at Trump and MAGA Republicans, and a debate stage is a great location for it. If she directs that moxie torwards fellow Democrats, she’s doomed to fail miserably.
Especially to men, non college graduates and the working class.
This idea, often attributed to Napoleon, was actually the basis of my very first post about the Republican Speaker fight against Kevin McCarthy which led to 17 rounds of voting.
I once saw a demonstration when someone tore up the Constitution trying to describe how our rights were being shredded. I got the point, but the image is actually a negative one that you don’t want associated with your group. If someone dressed as Trump did it, that would be more in line with the message you want. Doing it yourself as part of a protest sends the wrong signal.
I feel the need to say this again—don’t do a “Response to the State of the Union” Democrats, It’s a worthless speech, anticlimactic, nobody watches or remembers it, and a disaster for whatever up and coming person you put in it. It’s not a “Response” in any sense of the word, since it’s pre-scripted, and could even be pre-recorded. Instead, work the news programs, work the spin rooms, and get as many people in front of cameras as you can. The Response to the SOTU, regardless of which party is giving it, is HORRIBLE and needs to be put out of it’s misery.
Progressives are already calling on Democrats to boycott it. *Sigh* That’s the LAST thing you should do. This speech is one of the perks of the job of being President, and for elected Congresspeople it’s their obligation on behalf of their constituents to be there if they can. Now, too much of it is just pomp and play for the cameras, like the mindless, constant ovations. But there are ways to make displeasure known and protest quietly while still attending the event.
The Purple America we all deserve.
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Agree with your footnote #6.
The only effective response person (IMO) would be Jon Stewart.