{"id":94353,"date":"2023-03-01T13:24:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-01T17:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=94353"},"modified":"2023-03-06T13:07:23","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T17:07:23","slug":"koch-brothers-tea-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/","title":{"rendered":"The Koch Brothers, Tea Party, &#038; Efforts to Undermine Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What&#8217;s the connection between the Koch brothers and the Tea Party? Was the Tea Party truly a grassroots movement?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Koch brothers had hoped to block the election of Barack Obama in 2008. He succeeded, they failed, and a new season began. Journalist Jane Mayer discusses this period of American politics in her book <em>Dark Money<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn Mayer&#8217;s take on the Koch brothers, the Tea Party, and the efforts to obstruct Obama&#8217;s first-term agenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-koch-brothers-the-tea-party\">The Koch Brothers &amp; the Tea Party<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Mayer, partly as a result of the political movement funded by the Koch brothers, the Tea Party emerged in America. Let&#8217;s take a look at what led to that moment in political history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the 2008 election, Mayer claims, outside individuals and groups spent an unprecedented amount of money to influence the results. However, despite the Kochs\u2019 and their donors\u2019 best efforts, Barack Obama was elected president. His platform promised to reduce income inequality by making the wealthy pay their fair share. The Kochs and other elites were highly disturbed by this and were determined to undermine his presidency.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: The Kochs maintained a rocky relationship with President Obama throughout his presidency, particularly over climate change issues. In 2015, Obama singled out the Koch brothers as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2015\/aug\/25\/barack-obama-warns-fossil-fuelled-opponents-he-has-clean-energy-to-spare\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">major contributors to climate change<\/a>, accusing them of trying to keep clean energy businesses from succeeding by opposing subsidies for such businesses. This prompted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2015\/08\/charles-koch-blasts-obama-121746\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">backlash from Charles Koch<\/a>, who asserted that they\u2019re against government subsidies of all kinds, though he admitted his company benefits from them. However, they have occasionally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/obama-koch-brothers-in-unlikely-alliance-to-overhaul-criminal-justice-1437090737\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">aligned on other issues<\/a>, such as criminal justice reform.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because he took office during a recession, explains Mayer, one of Obama\u2019s first pieces of legislation was a stimulus bill, which involved putting trillions of dollars of government money into the economy to pull it out of the recession. Immediately after Obama\u2019s inauguration, the Kochs\u2019 nonprofit advocacy group Americans for Prosperity began attacking his platform, organizing rallies and other events decrying <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-should-the-government-spend-money-on\/\">public spending<\/a> to undercut his proposed stimulus bill. Think tanks like the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation began publishing research papers and opinion pieces in opposition to the bill, sometimes based on incorrect facts that were nevertheless repeated by conservative media figures like Rush Limbaugh. According to Mayer, this unrest combined with the ideological movement fueled by the Kochs led to the creation of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/the-tea-party-movement\/\">the Tea Party movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: The Heritage Foundation has maintained its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2020-05\/BG3493.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">anti-stimulus spending stance<\/a> during the COVID-19 pandemic, citing the 2008 stimulus to suggest that stimulus spending is ineffective and costly. The Cato Institute has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cato.org\/commentary\/more-stimulus-checks-expensive-political-stunt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">echoed this sentiment<\/a> and painted stimulus checks as a political stunt. However, research from other groups suggests that the stimulus checks sent out during the pandemic resulted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/features\/2022-06-08\/us-income-inequality-fell-during-the-covid-pandemic?sref=mIZ1p2Gz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the first major reduction of income inequality in a generation<\/a>. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that income inequality will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/osmr\/research-papers\/2022\/ec220060.htm#:~:text=We%20conclude%20that%20the%20pandemic,Telework%20has%20increased%20permanently.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">increase over the coming years<\/a> absent further stimulus checks.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tea Party movement was partly a response to Obama\u2019s proposal in 2009 to help bail out homeowners facing foreclosure during the economic crisis. Some on the right balked at this suggestion and claimed that people who were facing foreclosure had made bad decisions and that others shouldn\u2019t have to help pay for them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Libertarians and conservatives have been making similar arguments in recent years regarding the issue of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/who-is-eligible-for-student-loan-forgiveness\/\">student loan forgiveness<\/a>, suggesting that it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/prestoncooper2\/2020\/11\/17\/the-case-against-student-loan-forgiveness\/?sh=1b3d4318464c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">incentivizes government dependence<\/a> and that loan debt is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/story\/some-older-americans-say-millennials-student-debt-crisis-is-their-own-fault-2019-09-13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the result of poor decision-making<\/a> by students\u2014a belief held disproportionately by older Americans. For these reasons, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/09\/30\/1126083883\/bidens-plan-to-cancel-some-student-debt-turns-into-a-legal-fight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">some groups have even brought lawsuits<\/a> against President Biden\u2019s proposed debt relief plan.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This sentiment\u2014that poverty is a personal failing, that people shouldn\u2019t be expected to help other people who are struggling, and that personal opportunity is more important than others\u2019 welfare\u2014defined much of the Tea Party platform, according to Mayer. The movement was painted as a widespread grassroots movement, but, in reality, it was engineered by outside money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: While outside money was responsible for the creation of the Tea Party Movement, some have argued that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=129926390\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">it\u2019s still a grassroots movement<\/a> because of the widespread popular support it received due to existing beliefs among citizens. However, other research indicates that the Tea Party Movement is largely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/11\/09\/1053929419\/feel-like-you-dont-fit-in-either-political-party-heres-why\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">out of line with public opinion<\/a> and that its influence on the GOP agenda is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/blogs\/plum-line\/wp\/2014\/01\/24\/the-tea-party-and-the-hammock-theory-of-poverty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">disproportionately large<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Officials in Congress like Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, and Pete Sessions formed a strategy of obstructionism designed to prevent any part of Obama\u2019s platform from being enacted. This wing of the party began pressuring more moderate members to support this obstructionism. These moderates now saw that, if they didn\u2019t shift to the right, they would be ousted in primary races and replaced with extreme candidates funded by outside money.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: The strategy of obstructionism was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/magazine\/story\/2016\/12\/republican-party-obstructionism-victory-trump-214498\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">extremely successful<\/a>, but it may have backfired on the Republican party as its leaders began to lose control of the movement. Eric Cantor ended up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2014\/06\/11\/us\/politics\/eric-cantor-loses-gop-primary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">losing his seat in the House of Representatives<\/a> in 2014 to a candidate who claimed Cantor wasn\u2019t conservative enough. In 2023, Kevin McCarthy won the position of Speaker of the House on the 15th ballot, but only after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2023\/01\/06\/mccarthy-house-speaker-vote-insurrection-by-other-means\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">surrendering much of his power as speaker<\/a> to candidates who were denying him the position.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What&#8217;s the connection between the Koch brothers and the Tea Party? Was the Tea Party truly a grassroots movement? The Koch brothers had hoped to block the election of Barack Obama in 2008. He succeeded, they failed, and a new season began. Journalist Jane Mayer discusses this period of American politics in her book Dark Money. Continue reading to learn Mayer&#8217;s take on the Koch brothers, the Tea Party, and the efforts to obstruct Obama&#8217;s first-term agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":94360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,275],"tags":[924],"class_list":["post-94353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-politics","tag-dark-money","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Koch Brothers, Tea Party, &amp; Efforts to Undermine Obama - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Journalist Jane Mayer discusses the role that the Koch brothers played in the creation of the Tea Party movement in America. Learn more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Koch Brothers, Tea Party, &amp; Efforts to Undermine Obama\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Journalist Jane Mayer discusses the role that the Koch brothers played in the creation of the Tea Party movement in America. Learn more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-01T17:24:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-06T17:07:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/american-flag-money.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"629\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"The Koch Brothers, Tea Party, &#038; Efforts to Undermine Obama\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-01T17:24:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-06T17:07:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/\"},\"wordCount\":906,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/american-flag-money.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Dark Money\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/\",\"name\":\"The Koch Brothers, Tea Party, & Efforts to Undermine Obama - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/koch-brothers-tea-party\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/american-flag-money.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-01T17:24:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-06T17:07:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"Journalist Jane Mayer discusses the role that the Koch brothers played in the creation of the Tea Party movement in America. 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