Has the Tea Party actually hurt the GOP efforts to win POTUS?

2016-03-02T07:55:01-05:00

This year we are witnessing a crazy primary season in the GOP. An 'outsider' like Donald Trump is the dominant frontrunner. The GOP establishment is terrified. Then you have Ted Cruz, a Tea Party favorite, who is urging others to drop out so their supporters will join him. The GOP establishment candidates are getting pummeled, meanwhile. In the end, the GOP looks terribly divided, which has an onimous feel headed towards a fall general election.

I wondered this a few years ago but definitely today. Has the Tea Party within the GOP actually hurt more than it has helped? Should the GOP be a legitimate third party? Has its entry into the GOP set the conditions for the rise of Donald Trump? How should the Tea Party proceed? What about the GOP? What say you?

Response by CH (MAJ) William Beaver made Mar 2 at 2016 7:56 AM

2016-03-02T07:56:33-05:00

Should the TEA PARTY be a legitimate THIRD PARTY?

Response by Cpl Tou Lee Yang made Mar 2 at 2016 7:57 AM

2016-03-02T07:57:42-05:00

Yeap, no way the white folks is going to vote for the two Hispanic or the black guy. This is why Trump is winning with his rhetoric.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 2 at 2016 8:00 AM

2016-03-02T08:00:51-05:00

What has hurt the GOP is the same thing that is hurting our country. It is the my way is the only way mentality. Unfortunately, it has affected all parts of our society.

I do not agree with 100 % of what others say and certainly they do not agree with 100% of what I say. And, that is a good thing.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 2 at 2016 8:42 AM

2016-03-02T08:42:31-05:00

The Republican party is having a major identity crisis and I'm not sure how much longer it can endure such crisis before it splits into permanent separate factions.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 2 at 2016 8:56 AM

2016-03-02T08:56:24-05:00

I hope the TEA Party helps. They but some backbone in the RINOs. They are old corps patriots and against government waste, fraud, and criminal breaches of National security. They are misportrayed by bleeding heart progressives who prey on the under educated, no judgement (PC) easily propagandized no info citizen and those "undocumented travellers". Why should taxpayers support "UT's" and imported Syrian Muslim refugees. Unassimilated Somalis in MN threw the Senate election in 2008. A thousand ILLEGAL votes by convicted felons helped AL FRANKEN 'win' the third recount by only 320 votes.

Response by SFC Justin Scott made Mar 2 at 2016 9:12 AM

2016-03-02T09:12:43-05:00

What is hurting the Republican Party is the back-biting and infighting going on more than anything else! I vehemently oppose both of the top DNC contenders, but at least they have been attacking each other's policies rather than making the personal digs at each other. I have yet to see any of the top Republican contenders attack policies, they have been blatantly attacking each other! This election, based on the pendulum of politics (if nothing else) is the Republican's election to lose, but if they don't collectively pull their heads out of their asses, 2017 will see another Democrat in the White House which, given the choices, will be exceptionally bad for this nation!

Response by Cpl Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 2 at 2016 9:16 AM

2016-03-02T09:16:13-05:00

To put it simply, the tea party was hijacked by the establishment. What has hurt the gop is a lack of principle centered leadership. This morning my congressman was on the radio and was asked a simple question, "how do you handle opposing views." His response was upsetting. "I'll do what I believe is right." First of all, this is a representative republic and the representatives we send to washington need to take advice and consent from their districts' constituents. His C rating on the Conservative Review prompted me to vote against him. Unfortunately, I live in a moderate republican district and he was reelected. However, I can take solace that Cruz won TX.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Mar 2 at 2016 9:43 AM

2016-03-02T09:43:19-05:00

Never was fond of the Nativist Tea Party but I can understand their Disappointment at being co-opted by Rich Establishment Republicans (Koch Brothers), I am very confused by their Embrace of a Rich Establishment "Reality" Star.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 2 at 2016 9:49 AM

2016-03-02T09:49:03-05:00

Has it hurt the Republican Party? What the Tea Party did that was most impactful was bounce some establishment folks out in primary elections. Some of their favored candidates won office, many did not.
Why the TP came into existence is because of Obamacare. They were furious at the opaqueness of the law, that no one had read it, and showed up in droves to voice their opinions at the Washington Mall and elsewhere. This is as American as apple pie.
But they are not single issue voters.
In more recent days, the TP has been angered and moved to vote by the deal making or lack thereof in DC. They are voting for people like Ben Carson because they feel the party has ignored them in order to further their own ends. And they are right to feel that way, even if they are backing the wrong horse.

To say that the TP's support for insurgent candidates hurts the GOP is the same as saying that Occupy Wall Street (a much smaller movement) supporting Senator Sanders hurts the DNC. It just isn't true.

Response by SGM Mikel Dawson made Mar 2 at 2016 11:34 AM

2016-03-02T11:34:56-05:00

No the GOP has hurt themselves. We gave them Congress and what did they do? NOTHING!! Don't pass the buck, suck it up and admit when you've screwed up. The people are pissed and want the RNC to know it. GO TRUMP.

Response by SGT James Puff made Mar 2 at 2016 12:00 PM

2016-03-02T12:00:52-05:00

I think that the people of the party and the people who control the party have differing opinions on the direction of the party. I believe the success of trump is due to the republicans inability to do the actions wanted by the people of their party. They continually cave in to the President where we want people want them to fight back. Unfortunately all the attacks against Trump have back fired and showed to the American people that he will fight back.

Response by MSgt James Mullis made Mar 2 at 2016 12:44 PM

2016-03-02T12:44:15-05:00

No...Yes...Well maybe...It's kind of a gray area! If anything, I would say that the fault lies with the GOP's (Progressive) Leadership rather than the Tea Party. Between 2008 and 2016, the GOP has actively abandoned its Tea Party members, in many cases going so far as to throw their direct support behind Democrat Senate and Congressional candidates rather than face the possible loss of their "majority" status within the Republican party. These people don't care if they never win a Presidential race again as long as they stay in power.

Donald Trump is brilliantly playing off of the "distrust and dislike" of a sizeable portion of the GOP for its current leadership. The real problem will come if Trump is displaced at the party convention by political maneuvering. If this happens, then whoever the GOP picks as a candidate will likely lose the support of many of the party faithful. Their only real argument they will have for the Primary will be the upcoming Supreme Court nomination(s). I can see the signs now "Please, Please come out and Vote for Rubio! If not Hillary will appoint XXX to the Supreme Court".

Response by PO3 Steven Sherrill made Mar 2 at 2016 1:17 PM

2016-03-02T13:17:14-05:00

CH (MAJ) William Beaver to anyone who has read the stuff I post, I sound like a broken record. I think we need the dissolution of the political parties. Let any qualified person be on the ballot. Let them raise funds as an individual. Let conservatives, moderates, and liberals all run in one general election. Let the people vote for the candidate that is the most like minded to them. You would see several things. You would see a ballot with ten to twenty names on it. You would see an election won by a candidate carrying 20 to 30 percent of the popular vote. You would see a movement away from attack adds, and a movement toward clear concise advertising for the candidate.

More candidates is simple numbers. Potential candidates would gauge their chances in a general election, form individual alliances, and a ticket would form Presidential and Vice Presidential choice. Those who want to run for the top office, but cannot pull the support needed to warrant the expense will put themselves out there as a VP choice. When the dust settles, there would be a ballot with ten to twenty candidates, their VP choice, and covering the full spectrum of political leanings from the ultra conservative, to the moderate, to the constitutionalist (one who wants strict if aint in the constitution it aint in the government), to the ultra liberal, and all points in between.

Due to the higher number of candidates, you will see the poll results shift from two candidates receiving 98% of the vote to no one candidate receiving close to half of the vote. People will vote for a candidate who fits with their views, and are a lot more likely to find that candidate with more choices on the ballot.

Finally Attack adds will become ineffective. Attack adds work when you are choosing between two options. A is bad vote for B. B is bad vote for A. Clear and concise. When you throw other options into the mix, the message A is bad is still clear. The vote for B becomes lost in the mix of candidates. This can still hurt A, but is not going to help B as much as it does when the choice is A or B. This will force the candidates to move to an A is good, vote for A model to keep the advertising message clear to the voters.

You ask if the Tea Party should run as an independent third Party. In lieu of my fantasy above I would say yes. Put Ted Cruz on the ballot in November. Skip the Republican convention, Run as a Tea Party Candidate. See what happens when the 98% gets divided by three instead of two. Hel, maybe Bernie Sanders runs as an independent and you get a four way divide of that 98%. If the law suit filed by the Libertarian and Green Parties is successful, then you have more candidates in the debates. You could conceivably have six or seven participants in the debates (with a Cruz and Sanders third party run). It would definitely make things interesting. Might even lead to real change in Washington's business as usual mentality.

Response by Maj John Bell made Mar 2 at 2016 1:48 PM

2016-03-02T13:48:27-05:00

What hurt was that the media to some extent succeeded in branding the tea party as racists that wanted to throw the disadvantaged out in the cold in deepest darkest winter. There is a growing split in this country. On one side you have people who want the government to remove the risks of life. On the other side you have people that want the government to leave them alone. If the Tea Party wants to proceed, it needs to enter into the propaganda war. We have to be smart about not only presenting Tea Party views, but taking direct action that puts the lie to mis-labeling. Liberal, Democrat outreach and assistance programs have left low-income minorities communities no better off or worse after decades. On many issues they line up with conservatives, but concerns/mistrust about Tea Party positions on Civil Rights and the Justice System keep them at arms distance. We should not only address those issues, we should be their strong, uncompromising, active allies where we agree on those issues, not just on the surface but after deep analysis of each others concerns.. Example; The Tea Party concern with voter fraud, has been successfully labeled as voter suppression. I think every eligible voter should be registered. I don't care if they vote different than I do. I just don't want them to vote twice, and I don't want them to vote if they are not eligible. If the Tea Party did a voter registration drive that targeted low-income minority voters, how much wind would there be in our opponents sails? If those communities concerns about our position on civil rights was not voter oppression, could issues we agree on rise to the top of their list. Thus getting them to join us.

Response by CH (MAJ) William Beaver made Mar 2 at 2016 2:13 PM

2016-03-02T14:13:31-05:00

I discovered Trump's appeal. A 23yr old Soldier explained his appeal: His paraphrased words--- "Trump, I been knowing about him from his TV show 'The Apprentice.' I don't know much about these others. Trump's a business man who finally gave us country boys a voice. He says what we been saying for years but nobody's been listening. He is for a strong country. He is for us, the common man. He speaks for us outsiders. I trust him. Truth is I don't know everything about any of them. But Trump is the only one speaking my language."

There you have it. Trump somehow stirred a non-voting part of the population this year. He is definitely a salesman.

Response by SFC J Fullerton made Mar 2 at 2016 2:48 PM

2016-03-02T14:48:51-05:00

In my opinion, Cruz is getting his ass handed to him by Trump for one reason. He only attempts to appeal to other evangelical conservatives. Every time he speaks, he is speaking to this audience and what he wants to do for them. He never mentions what he can do for America or the average American. There are plenty of people who are tired of the political divide between left and right, and Cruz is the poster boy for the extreme right. Trump has turned all this against him, to the angst of the Republican Party, and is on cruise control to the nomination (no pun intended).