How the Tea Party Taught Texas Progressives to Troll Their Government

[TexasTowelie]

It was a scene that became commonplace across the country in the following months, as the Tea Party, a conservative movement whose crusade against government spending grew out of the economic recession, began its energized push to reconfigure national politics. But for a few Doggett staffers, that particular moment in the grocery store parking lot was the textbook example of a strategy they’d need to remember: How to troll your government.

Fast-forward seven years and five miles north, to East Austin’s Scoot Inn, and it appears little has changed. Hundreds of Texans fill into the venue’s outdoor patio, carrying handmade signs with health care demands and waving poster-size photos of Congressman Lamar Smith, a Republican, with the caption: “Chicken.” As the February afternoon fades, the group chants in unison, “Do your job!”

What’s different about this boisterous crowd is that they’re mostly anti-Trump Democrats. Their likeness to their radical right-wing counterpart, however, isn’t an accident. In fact, the group of chanting liberals are using a playbook penned by former Doggett staffers, explicitly based off the Tea Party’s success at influencing members of Congress to echo their concerns.

Perhaps it’s ironic that a progressive group is using Tea Party tactics to oppose the very administration the Tea Party helped take to Washington. Or maybe just refreshingly clever.

The complete article is at http://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2017/03/28/how-the-tea-party-taught-texas-progressives-to-troll-their-government .

[Jonny Appleseed]

1. Isn't that just what general angry mobsmenship looks like?

At least our signs are spelled right.