A new, liberal tea party is forming, can it last without turning against Democrats?

There was the Coffee Party which was formed in the wake of the Tea Party movement that was supposed to be its counterweight. I don't know what happened to that. Will this be any more effective?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amph...421200-efdf-11e6-9973-c5efb7ccfb0d_story.html

A new, liberal tea party is forming. Can it last without turning against Democrats?

By Paul Kane
February 11, 2017 at 4:50 PM


Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) got a frosty reception in his home state on Feb. 9, at a town hall. Angry constituents packed a high school auditorium, grilled the high-ranking congressman with questions and peppered him with boos and chants while protesters amassed outside. (The Washington Post)
Grass-roots movements can be the life and death of political leaders.

It’s a well-worn story now about how John A. Boehner, then House minority leader, joined a rising star in his caucus, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, in April 2009 for one of the first major tea party protests in the California Republican’s home town of Bakersfield.

A little more than six years later, after they surfed that wave into power, the movement consumed both of them. Boehner was driven out of the House speaker’s office and McCarthy’s expected succession fell apart, leaving him stuck at the rank of majority leader.

Democrats are well aware of that history as they try to tap the energy of the roiling liberal activists who have staged rallies and marches in the first three weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.


What if they can fuse these protesters, many of whom have never been politically active, into the liberal firmament? What if a new tea party is arising, with the energy and enthusiasm to bring out new voters and make a real difference at the polls, starting with the 2018 midterm elections?


Republicans were forced to reschedule votes for key cabinet picks after Democrats intensified their opposition to President Trump's nominations. (The Washington Post)
The women’s marches that brought millions onto streets across the country the day after Trump’s inauguration — spurred organically through social media — opened Democratic leaders’ eyes to the possibilities.

With a 10-day recess beginning next weekend, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has instructed her members to hold a “day of action” in their districts, including town halls focused on saving the Affordable Care Act. The following weekend, Democratic senators and House members will hold protests across the country, hoping to link arms with local activists who have already marched against Trump.

Related: Swarming crowds and hostile questions are the new normal at GOP town halls

“It was important to us to make sure that we reach out to everyone we could, to visit with them, to keep them engaged, to engage those that maybe aren’t engaged,” Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told reporters at a Democratic retreat in Baltimore that ended Friday. The trick is to keep them aiming their fire at Republicans and Trump, not turning it into a circular firing squad targeting fellow Democrats.


“Now we want people to run for office, to volunteer and to vote,” Luján added.

Related: Schumer’s dilemma: Satisfying the base while protecting the minority

It’s too early to tell which direction this movement will take, but there are some similarities to the early days of the conservative tea party.

In early 2009, as unemployment approached 10 percent and the home mortgage industry collapsed, the tea party emerged in reaction to the Wall Street bailout. It grew throughout the summer of 2009 as the Obama administration and congressional Democrats pushed toward passage of the Affordable Care Act.

Many of the protesters were newly engaged, politically conservative but not active with their local GOP and often registered as independents. Their initial fury seemed directed exclusively at Democrats, given that they controlled all the levers of power in Washington at the time; the protesters famously provoked raucous showdowns at Democratic town halls over the August 2009 recess.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer’s first brush with the anti-Trump liberal movement came in a similar fashion to Boehner and McCarthy’s Bakersfield foray in 2009. Originally slated to deliver a brief speech at the women’s march in New York, Schumer instead spent 4 1/2 hours on the streets there, talking to people he had never met. By his estimate, 20 percent of them did not vote in November.

That, however, is where Schumer must surely hope the similarities end.

By the spring and summer of 2010, the tea party rage shifted its direction toward Republican primary politics. One incumbent GOP senator lost his primary, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) defeated the Kentucky establishment favorite, and three other insurgents knocked off other seasoned Republicans in Senate primaries (only to then lose in general elections).


One force that helped the tea party grow was a collection of Washington-based groups with some wealthy donors, notably the Koch-funded Americans For Prosperity, who positioned themselves as the self-declared leaders of the movement. For the next few years, they funded challenges to Republican incumbents, sparking a civil war that ran all the way through the 2016 GOP presidential primaries.

 

I Just hope they clean up after themselves after they have their demonstrations. Why is isn't Greenpeace going after these people for the amount of garbage they leave in the streets?

 

They will need a relevant name, maybe something like the butt hurt party.

 

If you're fretting over litter, maybe you should attend these events and bring your little garbage bag?

 

This post should be bronzed as an example of progressive thought.

 

Let if form. Liberals by any name is what destroyed the democrat party.

 

Hmmmmm . . . the nation soundly rejected leftist policies and so the leftist solution consists of grouping together hate-filled and hysterical citizens DEMANDING that the ravaged political party go . . . farther . . . Left? Sweet! Now all they need is a name that describes them perfectly. How about 'The Flaming Snowflakes'?

 

The first time a liberal Tea Party formed, it was called Occupy Wall Street. Lots of violence, including rapes and murders. And they weren't intelligent, didn't have a specific agenda, and were ignored except for the freak show.

The people shown in the wapo link may be democrats-but they too have no agenda, and those Republicans at these events aren't worried about the manufactured outrage of people who wont vote for them anyway.

The biggest mistake the left has made, is in thinking they can start a top down movement.

The second is sending out the drones without a specific agenda.

 

the democrats destroyed themselves when they abandoned the union base.

 

What the heck are they talking about? TEA stood for Taxed Enough Already! Whatever the liberals are trying to form, it has nothing to do with taxes. I searched the referenced article and this thread up to my entry, and neither location even contained the word “tax” a single time in any form, much less a movement to say that there are too many taxes or the government is wasting too much of our money. As far as the liberals are concerned there are not enough taxes!

If they are going to start a new movement they should use an anagram that has meaning like the OWL party for Obnoxious Wackadoodle Liberals.

 

Correct in both respects. The reason that the Tea Party was successful until Obama used the IRS to carpet bomb it WITH the blessings of the RINO leadership of the GOP, was that it truly was a grass roots movement and had a specific agenda. Enough taxes and enough political corruption! It was focused and had the collective will to vote the bastards out of office and replace them with -- they hoped -- decent politicians who would listen. The Left? They are simply angry because they are no longer in control of the nation; and that's pretty much it.

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Well spotted. Well said . . .

 

So far the liberals efforts are "weak tea".

 

Tea Pee, even. AKA Elizabeth Warrens ancestral home.

 

"Progressive thought". Hmmmmm. An oxymoron indeed.

 

As Mrs. Slocombe used to say, "Weak as Water!"

 

Weak tea or not, there appears to be various groups very unhappy with some of the things the White House is doing.
I thought the tea party did a great job at the grass roots level a few years back. I was impressed how a group of angry people could take over a town hall meeting.
It's just not one issue that solidifies dissent.
I think the republican establishment will find out, if they have not already, that this year is not going to be a walk in the park.
I still work even thought I could already be retired.
As soon as your brothers start messing with social security, I will be one of many who protest that issue.
And I won't be the only one.
The interesting thing is, I've never protested anything, ever.
And I'm very far from being a liberal.
I haven't worked my whole life to have a bunch of rich guys doink me.
I do not care much for Mr. McConnell nor Mr. Ryan. I find them to be corporate prostitutes, same for many democrats.
George Soros, the brothers Koch, & many of the other super rich need to step away.
I'm still waiting for Mr. Trump to drain the swamp.
In that particular swamp, refugees aren't that high on my list.

 

Won't happen. With their sense of entitlement, they will drag their safe spaces around with them and leave a trail of debris behind them where ever they go.

 

It wouldn't come as a surprise if many of these Tea Leaves are already living on the government dole, collecting Pell grants working on their 7-year Sociology Degrees, sleeping in their parent's basement; and on top of that collecting a stipend from one of the well-funded Soros or Koch slush funds.

McConnell and Ryan are in the tank with the corporatists and crony capitalists and are well-positioned to steer both sides of Congress in any direction their masters dictate. They certainly don't conduct business on behalf of the working, taxpaying, US citizens.

 

They are trying to fake reality, and you can't. If they actually had the American public on their side, the “Progressive” Left wouldn’t have lost the House, the Senate, and now the White House.

 

I agree with your statement, sort of.
However, because the republicans control everything, the good news is they can do many things they always wanted to do.
The bad news is that now everything is their fault. Not just some things, but everything.
These town hall meetings where the republican office holder blames Mr. Obama for all the nations problems are over.
Done, finished, kaput.
Mr. Trump has angered many Americans.
One place where this anger will rear its ugly head is the town hall meetings.
And from what I can see, it will not be paid protesters.
It will be minorities, woman, people concerned about social security, those who lost health care,& people that feel Mr. Trump has betrayed them.
And then there are those who feel that Mr. Trump is evil.
It will be local people.
This is just the start.
That's the reality of the current situation.


On the bright side, I no longer need pay per view for entertainment.
I have Fox,CNN,SNL, & the White House.

 

Thats fine. We think we have solid solutions, we want the opportunity to govern. And of course, we have it. I hope we do well with it while we have it.

Trump could cut the care costs of the uninsure by 90%, simply by mandating that health care providers charge them no more than medicare rates.

 

Here's more:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/dont-believe-the-progressive-hype-1487203070

Don’t Believe the Progressive Hype
Trump’s missteps have energized the left, but tea-party comparisons are overwrought.
National Security Adviser Mike Flynn takes questions from the press at the White House, Feb. 1.
National Security Adviser Mike Flynn takes questions from the press at the White House, Feb. 1. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
By KARL ROVE
Feb. 15, 2017 6:57 p.m. ET
335 COMMENTS
The first few weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency have buoyed Democrats. The ouster of National Security Adviser Mike Flynn and the furor surrounding Mr. Trump’s immigration order have energized the party’s base. Democrats believe there’s a tea-party-style movement forming that will help them sweep the 2018 midterms. Perhaps, but there are critical differences between now and 2009.

The tea party arose spontaneously as an organic display of deep disagreements with President Obama’s stimulus bill. ObamaCare strengthened the opposition, helping the new movement attract Americans who had never before been politically active.

This year’s progressive response appears to be largely scripted. Left-wing groups such as Organizing for Action, MoveOn.org and Democracy for America are drawing on existing cadres of activists.

Although the protests grab headlines and give congressional Republicans the jitters, it’s questionable whether the agitation will bring new people into the Democratic Party. Pushing the party further to the left won’t necessarily convince swing voters from Trump states.

Democrats are further hobbled because their bench of state and local officeholders was decimated during the Obama years and now comes mostly from big cities and blue coastal states.

Also no help is the Democratic Party’s aged leadership: In the House, the top three Democrats are all older than 75. On the Republican side the oldest of the top three is Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is 52.

The Democrats’ challenges were evident following their House retreat last week. Left-wingers griped that a centrist Democratic operative was allowed to speak. There seemed to be no clear direction beyond opposing the president. As the minority party, Democrats cannot pass any agenda. But they need to stand for something that at least appears to approximate change from the Obama years.

The party’s problems are also evident in the strategy demanded by its hard left to resist fiercely almost all of Mr. Trump’s cabinet nominations, rather than objecting to a few based on important principles. This has left Democrats looking like petty obstructionists and sour losers.

Democrats will eventually find their footing, but Republicans should try to avoid giving them openings. That’s why the bungled immigration order, Mr. Flynn’s forced retirement, and greater-than-normal White House disarray are so problematic. These, combined with needless Twitter controversies, have cost Team Trump control of the narrative. The new administration looks as if it’s off course, wasting time on unimportant issues.

Mr. Trump won the election because Americans wanted change: a stronger economy, more jobs, bigger paychecks. Fully 52% of voters told exit pollsters that the economy was the most important issue, followed by terrorism at 18%. Foreign policy and immigration were tied at 13%. That disparity persists. A Feb. 13 poll from Fox News found 52% of voters say it’s extremely or very important for Mr. Trump to work on cutting taxes. Forty-nine percent say the same about repealing ObamaCare. Only 26% see building a border wall as extremely or very important.

The president has made a good start on economic issues, signing an executive order to diminish ObamaCare’s ill effects. Congressional Republicans are readying comprehensive tax reform that includes a pro-growth rate cut, while wrangling over an ObamaCare replacement bill. The president is reducing unnecessary federal regulations while the GOP Congress votes to override the Obama administration’s last-minute rules. The markets have reacted well to all this.


Yet these positive moves have been overshadowed by unforced errors, avoidable mistakes and misplaced priorities. Rather than seeing the president as engaged on the big issues, many Americans believe Mr. Trump is more concerned with trivial ones: the size of his inauguration crowd, Meryl Streep’s ungracious Golden Globes speech, and his daughter Ivanka’s fashion line.

The president and his staff would serve the country better by focusing on the economy, jobs and paychecks. Sideshows can be ignored, and even justifiable complaints like leaks of embarrassing classified information can be played down and taken care of quietly.

No president in living memory has gotten off to a rockier start than Mr. Trump. Failing to define the narrative is giving Democrats a chance to get up off the mat. Time is growing short for Team Trump to regain control—but it will require disciplined leadership from the Oval Office.

Mr. Rove helped organize the political-action committee American Crossroads and is the author of “The Triumph of William McKinley” (Simon & Schuster, 2015).