Summary

Mayer begins this chapter by describing the origins of the Tea Party movement, starting with a fiery rant given by business and trading expert Rick Santelli in 2009. Santelli’s rant quickly went viral; most notably, conservatives applauded his analogy to the Boston Tea Party. The rant’s popularity paired with the likening of a conservative movement to the Tea Party is the creation myth, Mayer argues, for the entire Tea Party movement. Mayer notes that the Koch brothers were asked numerous times about the extent of their involvement – either financial or ideological – to the movement, accusations they always denied. Without stating it outright, Mayer insinuates that the Kochs were, in fact, covertly behind the Tea Party.

Immediately, Mayer begins to dissect the Tea Party’s creation myth, beginning with the movement’s claims to non-partisanship, anti-elitism, and spontaneity. Groups funded specifically by the...