Chapter 82: Tea Party

317      “The very founders that wrote those [founding] documents . . .”  Michele Bachmann quoted in Jonathan Martin and Kendra Marr, “For Bachmann, Not Quite the Facts,” Politico, March 12, 2011, updated March 14, 2011, www.politico.com/story/2011/03/for-bachmann-not-quite-the-facts-051179.
 
317      founded the Tea Party Caucus . . .  Jake Sherman, “Bachmann Forms Tea Party Caucus,” Politico, July 16, 2010, www.politico.com/story/2010/07/bachmann-forms-tea-party-caucus-039848.
 
317      first rode into Congress . . . in the 2012 elections Gillian Brockell, “Ron DeSantis’s Context-Free History Book Vanished Online: We Got a Copy,” Washington Post, May 21, 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/05/21/ron-desantis-book-founding-fathers; and Jessica Taylor, “Meet The Tea Party’s New Favorite Candidate,” It’s All Politics, NPR, May 7, 2015, www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/05/07/404805852/meet-the-tea-partys-new-favorite-candidate.
 
317      published Dreams from Our Founding Fathers . . . a riff on . . .  Brockell, “Ron DeSantis’s Context-Free History Book Vanished Online: We Got a Copy,” www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/05/21/ron-desantis-book-founding-fathers.
 
317      drew a historical line from . . . to the Tea Party movement David Waldstreicher, “The Forgotten Ron DeSantis Book,” The Atlantic, February 22, 2023, www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2023/02/desantis-american-history-interpretation-constitution-originalism/673152.
 
317      “a far cry from the dreams bequeathed to us . . .”  Ron De Santis, Dreams from Our Founding Fathers, 2011, quoted in Kendall Ross, “Vivek Ramaswamy Is Invoking ‘1776 ideals’ on the Campaign Trail: What Does That Really Mean?” ABC News, July 14, 2023, abcnews.go.com/Politics/vivek-ramaswamy-invoking-1776-ideals-campaign-trail/story?id=100633950.
 
318      “that fulfillment of a thousand years of Western civilization”  “Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History,” Trump White House Archives, September 17, 2020, trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-white-house-conference-american-history.
 
318      “a radical movement is attempting to demolish . . .”  “Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History,” trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-white-house-conference-american-history.
 
318      positioned 1619 . . . as the beginning  See Pierre-Antoine Louis, “‘No People Has a Greater Claim to That Flag Than Us,’” New York Times, September 6, 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/09/06/us/nikole-hannah-jones-interview.html; “The 1619 Project,” New York Times Magazine, 2019, accessed September 24, 2025, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html; and The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, eds. Nikole Hannah-Jones et al. (New York: One World, 2021). Visit search.worldcat.org/title/1250435664to find the book at a library near you.
 
318      “that much about American identity . . . founded on both slavery and freedom”  Nikole Hannah-Jones, “Preface,” in The 1619 Project, xxix. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/1250435664.
 
318      “This project rewrites American history . . .”  “Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History,” trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-white-house-conference-american-history.
 
318      “Nothing could be further from the truth”  “Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History,” trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-white-house-conference-american-history.
 
318      “critical race theory” . . . “being forced into our children’s schools . . .”  “Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History,” trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-white-house-conference-american-history.
 
318      announced . . . the 1776 Commission  “Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History,” trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-white-house-conference-american-history.
 
318      “to promote patriotic education . . .”  “Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History,” trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-white-house-conference-american-history.
 
318      “Children will be taught to love America” . . . “Children will be taught to be patriots”  The White House, “Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Stephen Miller Brief Members of the Media, May 01, 2025,” YouTube, www.youtube.com/live/NJkZT51VADc?si=1Qh9VqvSWypDObI4, 14:17–14:22.
 
318–319 “now divided between two opposing forces . . .”  “Taking the Reins of Government,” in Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project, eds. Paul Dans and Steven Groves (Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation, 2023), static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf, 19.
 
319      posted . . . of a Revolutionary War leader  Donald J. Trump, Truth Social, July 4, 2023, 8:27 p.m., truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/110658638856839346, archived at Wayback Machine, October 7, 2024 capture, web.archive.org/web/20241007171150/http://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110658638856839346.
 
319      posted a video . . . in Pickens, South Carolina Trump, Truth Social, July 4, 2023, 1:04 p.m., truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110656898977594898, archived at Wayback Machine, May 25, 2025 capture, web.archive.org/web/20250525133104/http://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110656898977594898.
 
319      praised . . . and “the great general Andrew Pickens”  Trump, Truth Social, July 4, 2023, 1:04 p.m., truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110656898977594898, archived at web.archive.org/web/20250525133104/http://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110656898977594898, 0:09–0:25. This part of the full speech can be viewed at Sky News, “Former US President Donald Trump Delivers Speech Ahead of Independence Day,” YouTube, July 1, 2023, www.youtube.com/live/X_ik069yLlQ?si=5HTNO1gUsD6oubC_, 1:43–1:59.
 
319      an enslaver . . . during the American Revolution Harry Schenawolf, “Brigadier General Andrew Pickens,” Revolutionary War Journal, January 21, 2025, revolutionarywarjournal.com/brigadier-general-andrew-pickens.
 
319      “Nearly two and a half centuries ago . . .”  Trump, Truth Social, July 4, 2023, 1:04 p.m., truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110656898977594898, archived at web.archive.org/web/20250525133104/http://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/110656898977594898, 0:01–0:08. This part of the full speech appears at Sky News, “Former US President Donald Trump Delivers Speech Ahead of Independence Day,” www.youtube.com/live/X_ik069yLlQ?si=5HTNO1gUsD6oubC_, 1:13–1:20.
 
319      “Oligarchs tap into the extraordinary strength . . .” Heather Cox Richardson, How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and The Continuing Fight for the Soul of America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020), xvi. Find this book at a library at search.worldcat.org/title/1119531537.