Did Tea Partiers ever actually mean it?

Published June 6, 2025 5:25am ET



Where is the Tea Party when we need it? President Donald Trump is lining up with the far Left, declaring that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is right to want to scrap the debt ceiling. “Let’s get together, Republican and Democrat, and DO THIS!” Trump declared last week.

The Tea Party was founded in 2007 as a reaction against excessive spending. Its members raged against former President Barack Obama when he lifted the debt ceiling. Compared to what is happening now, though, Obama was a model of fiscal rectitude. The federal deficit in 2007 was $160 billion; in 2024, it was $1,860 billion.

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