\u201cThe Tea Party that arose in 2009 seemed initially focused on bailouts, health care, and taxes. But new research suggests that concerns about cultural change and distrust of distant elites, the same themes that drove Trump supporters, were also central to the Tea Party\u2014not just in the electorate but among activists and even for aligned Members of Congress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What made the Tea Partiers in Congress different from your average Republican, the so-called establishment Republicans, was not their position on fiscal or economic matters. Instead, it was they had different positions on civil rights and social policies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In the book, Change They Can\u2019t Believe In<\/em>, Chris Parker and Matt Barreto had previously shown that the Tea Party\u2019s mass supporters stood out for their racial concerns, not their economic views. Gervais and Morris finds that it was not just voters, but legislators who stood out mainly on cultural concerns<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of the Tea Party organizations, I think they were absolutely interested in lots of fiscal conservatism, and this is really what their ultimate goals were, were to see fiscally conservative policy passed, but they saw in the Tea Party movement, or the feelings of resentment in the electorate as an opportunity, and I argue it was the same case with House leadership as well. Going into 2010, Paul Ryan, Eric Canter, Kevin McCarthy and John Boehner as well, saw an opportunity here, saw an energy that could be utilized to retake the House and perhaps pass fiscally conservative legislation. It\u2019s sort of a means to an end, sort of this latent resentment here, is there to be mined and utilized, even if they don\u2019t necessarily agree with the rhetoric or agree with the goals of the Tea Party in the electorate….<\/p>\n\n\n\n the Tea Party wasn\u2019t just a group of angry people wearing three quartered hats and waving flags. It was and is this sustained alternative energy within the Republican Party.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n