Bigger than the Tea Party: Trump opposition goes grassroots

Posted by | February 18, 2017 11:00 | Filed under: Politics

Republish
Reprint

If the GOP assumed that there would be no resistance to their draconian, oligarchic agenda, they were wrong. Trump has no mandate, congressional Democrats got more total votes than Republicans, and people are organizing and fighting back:

Jill Fox admits it: she tuned out of politics for a while.

Barack Obama was in the White House and she agreed with much of what the Democrat did while he was there. But that all changed when Republican Donald Trump won the race to replace Obama as president.

Fox — who was stunned that Hillary Clinton didn’t win — said she felt an immediate need to do something.

She started attending local meetings for Democrats, volunteering with groups such as Planned Parenthood and getting involved with the Texas Legal Access Fund. And she joined in last month’s Women’s March.

“I got involved in civic organizations I should have always been involved in,” said the 36-year-old Fort Worth HR and legal administrator for a real estate investment firm. “If there’s a silver lining to the election of this president, it’s that a lot of people who have a lot to give are finally motivated to do it.

“I just wish it hadn’t happened this way.”

Fox is among those who, for years, have focused on their jobs, family and friends. Now, instead of complaining about who is running the government, they want to do something about it.

They are protesting, joining Democratic groups and contacting members of Congress to weigh in on issues such as appointments to Trump’s Cabinet. Some are considering taking it a big step forward and possibly running for office themselves.

They call it the Trump effect.

“There’s absolutely a reaction to Trump actually becoming president by people who have not been involved in politics before,” said Jason Smith, a longtime Fort Worth Democrat who recently hosted a reception for Progress Texas. “Last fall, when we had phone banks, we were lucky if we could get half a dozen people there.

“Now we are having to accommodate for unexpectedly large crowds.” …

Tarrant County Democratic Party Chair Deborah Peoples said she sees similarities between the beginning of the Tea Party and the Democratic movement now underway: they both began at the grassroots level.

Case in point: the women’s march started with women who wanted to make a point, and many others joined the effort. Then citizens across the country began flocking to airports to protest travel bans put in place by Trump. And then people began holding phone banks, trying to organize opposition to various Trump appointments and actions.

“This kind of activism is something we haven’t ever seen,” Peoples said. “It bubbled from the ground up. … We know we need to capture and channel this kind of activism. … The 2018 election is just around the corner.”

Republicans are not the only ones who should be sweating about an energized “blue America” grassroots. Progressive populism has conservative-leaning Democrats feeling a touch of the flop sweat:

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Thursday compared a faction of Democrats calling for their party to become increasingly progressive to the Tea Party movement that grew out of Republicans’ opposition to President Barack Obama.

That wing of the party, McCaskill said on “The Mark Reardon Show” in St. Louis, could offer up a primary challenger to take on the two-term senator when she runs for reelection next year.

“I’m for sure going to run,” McCaskill said. “And I may have a primary because there is, in our party now, some of the same kind of enthusiasm at the base that the Republican Party had with the Tea Party.”


Click here for reuse options!
Copyright 2017 Liberaland
By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.

31 responses to Bigger than the Tea Party: Trump opposition goes grassroots

  1. mea_mark February 18th, 2017 at 11:38

    Now all they need is a real good positive message, attacking tRump by itself is not enough. Campaigns that win generally have a positive message. I would sure like to see ‘basic income for all’ as part of that message. Let’s take care of the people, not the oligarchy or the corporations. With basic income we could do welfare reform and get rid of some of the more corrupt aspects of it, like TANF block grants. Lets take care of the people and streamline how we do it. Let’s make it simple and not make people that are beaten down or struggling jump through hoops to get help. Let’s give everyone a positive helping hand up. We need to nurture our culture and society and quit focusing so much energy on how we can exploit it.

    • Larry Schmitt February 18th, 2017 at 11:58

      And quit figuring how to keep giving all the advantages to corporations. Without regulations, the corporations will take everything and leave us with nothing, unless we happen to own stock.

  2. StoneyCurtisll February 18th, 2017 at 12:30

    When Fox “news” speaks out against Trump…
    We know the tide is turning…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c_E12d_EtU

    • Larry Schmitt February 18th, 2017 at 12:41

      That’s one guy giving his opinion. As I pointed out elsewhere, he still gets plenty of love on the rest of the network.

      • StoneyCurtisll February 18th, 2017 at 13:16

        I know…..
        But can’t I keep my hopes up?…:)

        • Larry Schmitt February 18th, 2017 at 13:24

          You take hope where you can find it.

    • robert February 18th, 2017 at 13:28

      I don’t see Shep as a hard core FN guy. He fought for the recognition he now has the old fashioned way and is one of the very few that will take any sh*t from bill O’Reilly

    • StoneyCurtisll February 18th, 2017 at 13:44

      Shep better be careful…
      fake president Donald Trump might brand Fox “news” as fake next time…

    • Suzanne McFly February 18th, 2017 at 21:32

      And rump claimed again today that he had the most electoral votes when he was visiting the inbreds in Florida and the idiots clapped for him. We know he is a pathological liar but what do we do with the idiots who applaud this behavior? To me, they are the reason we are in this effing mess and we deal with them as well as the criminal in the Oval Office.

      • StoneyCurtisll February 18th, 2017 at 22:14

        Those poor people in Florida, that many trump supporters believe he was in Melbourne Australia..
        They dont know the difference, and they don’t care either.
        To them CNN lied about the Electoral College vote count, and Trump is telling them the truth…
        I guess they see the emperor fully clothed, and not naked like the rest of us.

      • granpa.usthai February 19th, 2017 at 01:33

        it’s their WHITE thing to do, and why shouldn’t they applaud LIAR trump?

        he’s their pumpkinhead orange p*ssy grabbing savior of the white peoples.

        • Suzanne McFly February 19th, 2017 at 08:00

          Only the white people with red necks. You know, the poorly educated types.

    • granpa.usthai February 19th, 2017 at 01:30

      LIAR trump is nothing but a 70 year old spoiled CRYBABY that LIES.

  3. StoneyCurtisll February 18th, 2017 at 13:35

    I got your “dont tread on me” image right here..(tea baggers)
    https://videogamesoftheoppressed.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/indian-grey-mongoose-attacking-a-snake.jpg

    • bpollen February 18th, 2017 at 19:50

      Rikki-Tikki-Tavi! You go, Mon…goose.

      • StoneyCurtisll February 18th, 2017 at 22:15

        Flash Back~!

        • bpollen February 18th, 2017 at 22:19

          I think I’m going through my third childhood.

          • StoneyCurtisll February 18th, 2017 at 22:21

            Ain’t nothing wrong with that..:)

          • The Original Just Me February 18th, 2017 at 23:15

            Does that mean Puberty is coming up AGAIN ? LOL

            • bpollen February 19th, 2017 at 15:02

              I’m starting to get hair… down there. My voice is breaking…

              • The Original Just Me February 19th, 2017 at 22:22

                If you were a girl I would—— NO, I would get in trouble for that. LOL

        • fredoandme February 19th, 2017 at 08:49

          came near to making me woozy.

      • Tricialraymond February 19th, 2017 at 09:37

        Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !mj614d:
        On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
        !mj614d:
        ➽➽
        ➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash614MarketMoneyGetPay$97Hour… ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★:::::!mj614d:….,……….

  4. The Original Just Me February 18th, 2017 at 23:18

    Now IF the Democrats Only had a leader without a Cocktail Glass in their hand.

  5. StoneyCurtisll February 19th, 2017 at 21:27

    This…
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ZUf_MWVck
    Let us not despair, there is a light at the end of the tunnel

Leave a Reply