What does it mean to be "Tea Party" now?

[Blue3]

What does it even mean to be "Tea Party" now?

[NerdyBohemian]

Being a mainstream Republican.

[The Free North]

In reality?

Absolutely nothing since they are irrelevant now.

[Crumpets]

But what about Operation American Spring?!

But seriously, though. I think "Tea Party" nowadays is pretty much synonymous with "Suicide Caucus" - that being the group which votes for government shutdowns to stand against Obamacare, immigration, Planned Parenthood, etc., as well as any of the "wacko-bird" group which primary safe incumbents only wind up making the races much more competitive come November.

[Bigby]

They were a group that started out great but became known to be a bunch of wackos. I'd say that they lost their biggest ounce of credibility in the 2014 midterms. I wonder if they will even be a formidable voting black during the Presidential primaries...

[SATW]

In reality?

Absolutely nothing since they are irrelevant now.

[traininthedistance]

Non-ironic Donald Trump supporters, more or less.

[Zioneer]

To be Tea Party, you have to be an anarchistic lunatic in most areas, but sometimes (but not always) you're also a warhawk.

[Leinad]

Well, it was originally nothing more or less than a manifestation of conservative/conservatarian/populist backlash to the Washington elites of both parties. I think it still is, but they're not as organized, nor is the term used as much. Which makes sense, as social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, Republican libertarians, neocons, and people-who-hate-immigrants are totally different groups.

The fact is, there's a lot of disdain for both the Republican and Democrat establishments, on the left, the right, and obviously among libertarians. The fact is the government looks out for themselves and their lobbyists, and lots of people of different ideologies don't like it, whether you call them "Tea Partiers," "Donald Trump supporters," "Bernie Sanders supporters," "Ted Cruz supporters," "libertarians," or anything else.

[Mechaman]

To be Tea Party, you have to be an anarchistic lunatic in most areas, but sometimes (but not always) you're also a warhawk.

As an actual anarchistic lunatic, I take great offense to this association.

[mencken]

Republicans opposed by the crony capitalist wing of the party. This explains how you can have libertarians, economic populists, and social conservatives rallying under the same banner.

[Zioneer]

To be Tea Party, you have to be an anarchistic lunatic in most areas, but sometimes (but not always) you're also a warhawk.

As an actual anarchistic lunatic, I take great offense to this association.

Fair enough. Perhaps I should have gone with "nihilistic" instead of anarchistic?

[Republican Michigander]

There are many varieties of tea parties, but most are a Republican or Libertarian who:

1. Despises Republican leadership as much as they do democrats. You'll hear as much negative about Boehner and Bush as Obama.

2. Despises Crony capitalism. It's the same as welfare to them.

[Torie]

It never had much meaning to me. It was just too amorphous.

[hopper]

To be Tea Party, you have to be an anarchistic lunatic in most areas, but sometimes (but not always) you're also a warhawk.

I called the Tea Party anarchists once or twice because of their total hatred for Government during their "15 minutes of fame".

[hopper]

They were a group that started out great but became known to be a bunch of wackos. I'd say that they lost their biggest ounce of credibility in the 2014 midterms. I wonder if they will even be a formidable voting black during the Presidential primaries...

Yeah I was sympathized with "The Tea Party" on their first rally on tax day of 2009 on April 15th of that year. After seeing what they put John Boehner through on every vote that came up on every spending bill they became an annoyance back in 2011-2012.