Tea Party Patriots

File:Ron Paul at Tea Party Patriots.jpg of Texas addressing the Tea Party Patriots American Policy Summit in Phoenix, Arizona in 2011]]

Rick Santelli, an editor for the CNBC Business News network, is credited as being a catalyst in the early formation of the Tea Party movement through a statement he made on February 19, 2009.[http://www.slate.com/id/2274224/pagenum/2 Fed-Bashing Three Ways] Slate, Bethany McLean. November 9, 2010

The organization was founded by Jenny Beth Martin, Mark Meckler, and Amy Kremer in March 2009.Burghart, Devin, and Leonard Zeskind. Tea Party Nationalism: A Critical Examination of the Tea Party Movement and the Size, Scope, and Focus of Its National Factions. Rep. Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, Fall 2010. Web. {{cite web |url=http://justanothercoverup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/TeaPartyNationalism.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=January 4, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124023305/http://justanothercoverup.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/TeaPartyNationalism.pdf |archive-date=November 24, 2011 }}

Tea Party Patriots was a co-sponsor of the 9/12 March on Washington,{{Cite web|url=http://www.teapartypatriots.org/EventDetail/1920/912%20March%20and%20Rally|title=Tea Party Patriots: 912 March and Rally|access-date=2010-02-14|archive-date=2011-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716182642/http://www.teapartypatriots.org/EventDetail/1920/912%20March%20and%20Rally|url-status=dead}} but refused to participate in the National Tea Party Convention.{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tea-party-convention-lose_b_416987|title=Tea Party Convention Loses Main Sponsor|first1=Alex|last1=Brant-Zawadzki|first2=ContributorIndustrial Hemp|last2=Advocate|date=March 18, 2010|website=HuffPost}} Tea Party Patriots is most notable for organizing citizen opposition at the healthcare town hall meetings of 2009.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/us/politics/08townhall.html|title=Beyond Beltway, Health Debate Turns Hostile|first=Ian|last=Urbina|date=August 7, 2009|work=The New York Times}}

In 2010, Tea Party Patriots was among the 12 most influential groups in the Tea Party movement according to the National Journal,{{cite web|last1=Snow Hopkins|first1=Christopher|last2=Mahanta|first2=Siddhartha|last3=Poulson|first3=Theresa|date=February 4, 2010|title=12 Tea Party Players To Watch|url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/12-tea-party-players-to-watch-20100204|access-date=April 17, 2015|magazine=National Journal}} and among the top five according to The Washington Post.{{cite news|date=September 26, 2010|title=The top national players in the tea party|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2010/09/26/GR2010092600175.html|access-date=April 17, 2015}} In September 2010, the group announced it had received a $1 million donation from an anonymous donor.{{Cite web|last=Jensen|first=Kristin|date=September 21, 2010|title=Tea Party Patriots to Hand out $1 Million for Election Spending|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-21/tea-party-patriots-to-hand-out-1-million-for-november-election-spending.html|access-date=September 7, 2020|website=Bloomberg.com}} The money was distributed to its affiliated groups and must be spent by Election Day, though it could not be used to directly support any candidate. In 2010, the group reportedly included over 2,200 local chapters.Zernike, Kate. Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America. New York: Times /Henry Holt and, 2010. Print.

In 2012, the group along with the Southern Republican Leadership Conference organized a presidential primary debate that aired on CNN.{{Cite web|url=https://www.teapartypatriots.org/archive/presidential-debate/|title=Presidential Debate}}

Along with various other conservative and libertarian organizations the Tea Party Patriots developed a Contract from America that echoed the Republican Contract with America of 1994 stating some of the core principles and several specific goals shared by organizations and individuals involved with the tea parties.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thecontract.org/about/|title=Contract from America: About Us|access-date=2010-04-16|archive-date=2010-05-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100503221628/http://www.thecontract.org/about/|url-status=dead}}{{Failed verification|date=June 2011}}

In July 2012, the group's Atlanta chapter partnered with the Sierra Club and the NAACP to defeat a proposed transit tax in Atlanta. The referendum was defeated by a margin of 63 percent.{{Cite web|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0801/How-tea-party-and-its-unlikely-allies-nixed-Atlanta-s-transit-tax|title=How tea party and its unlikely allies nixed Atlanta's transit tax|date=August 1, 2012|work=Christian Science Monitor}}

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the Tea Party Patriots were reported to have assisted in lobbying efforts by hospitals against restrictions on elective surgeries and procedures.{{Cite web|title=Hospitals, Doctors Get Conservatives' Push for Elective Care|url=https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/hospitals-doctors-get-conservatives-push-for-elective-care|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=Bloomberg Law|language=en}}

{{Main|America's Frontline Doctors}}

On July 27, 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tea Party Patriots hosted and funded a press conference in Washington, D.C., at which they introduced "America's Frontline Doctors", a group founded by Simone Gold that promotes misleading and erroneous medical advice regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Video of the press conference, published by Breitbart News, was promoted by Donald Trump and viewed millions of times before it was removed by Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for spreading misinformation.{{Cite web|date=July 28, 2020|title=Don't fall for this video: Hydroxychloroquine is not a COVID-19 cure|url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/jul/28/stella-immanuel/dont-fall-video-hydroxychloroquine-not-covid-19-cu/|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=PolitiFact|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|last1=Frenkel|first1=Sheera|last2=Alba|first2=Davey|author-link2=Davey Alba|date=July 28, 2020|title=Misleading Virus Video, Pushed by the Trumps, Spreads Online|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/28/technology/virus-video-trump.html|access-date=July 29, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|last=Goodman|first=Christopher Giles, Shayan Sardarizadeh and Jack|date=July 28, 2020|title=Why a video promoted by Trump was pulled on social media|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/53559938|access-date=July 29, 2020}}{{Cite web|last1=Passantino|first1=Jon|last2=Darcy|first2=Oliver|title=Social media giants remove viral video with false coronavirus claims that Trump retweeted|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/28/tech/facebook-youtube-coronavirus/index.html|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=CNN}}{{Cite web|title=Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Solidarity Trial and hydroxychloroquine|url=https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-hydroxychloroquine|access-date=2021-05-15|website=www.who.int|language=en}}

The Tea Party Patriots were among 11 groups listed on the website of the March to Save America, the pro-Trump rally in 2021 that led to the storming of the Capitol.{{Cite web|date=2021-01-12|title=Chicago-Area Billionaire Gave Millions To 'Patriots' Group That Backed Pro-Trump Rally|url=https://www.wbez.org/stories/chicago-area-billionaire-gave-millions-to-patriots-group-that-backed-pro-trump-rally/a5ea9afa-e58f-4987-a698-7d847c244189|access-date=2021-01-16|website=WBEZ Chicago|language=en}}

The organization is run with the help of FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit.{{Cite journal|last1=Jacobs|first1=Lawrence|last2=Skocpol|first2=Theda|date=2016-01-07|title=Health Care Reform and American Politics|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/wentk/9780190262037.001.0001|publisher=Oxford University Press|volume=|pages=193|doi=10.1093/wentk/9780190262037.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-026203-7}}{{Cite book|last=|first=|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-tea-party-and-the-remaking-of-republican-conservatism-9780190633660?cc=us&lang=en&|title=The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism|date=2016-08-01|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-063366-0|location=Oxford, New York|pages=9–10, 108–109}}{{Cite web|url=https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/freedomworks-says-jump-tea-partiers-ask-how-high|title=FreedomWorks Says Jump, Tea Partiers Ask How High|date=August 11, 2009|website=Talking Points Memo}}{{cite magazine|first= Tim|last=Dickinson|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/30219673/the_lie_machine|title=The Lie Machine|magazine=Rolling Stone|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 28, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090928072900/https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/30219673/the_lie_machine|date=Sep 23, 2009}}

A 2011 investigation by the magazine Mother Jones alleged that the Tea Party Patriots organization was using its 501(c)(4) status to avoid disclosing its expenditures both to the IRS and to local contributors. The magazine reported that when local Tea Party groups pressed for more details on the group's expenses, they were removed from the umbrella organization and threatened with legal action.{{Cite web|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/tea-party-patriots-investigated-part-two/|title=Tea Party Patriots Investigated: Don't Ask, Don't Tell|first=Stephanie|last=Mencimer}} The magazine reported that Tea Party Patriots "has started to resemble the Beltway lobbying operations its members have denounced."[https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/tea-party-patriots-investigated "Tea Party Patriots Investigated: They Use You and Abuse You," Mother Jones, February 14, 2011], retrieved November 10, 2016.

In 2014, The Washington Post reported that Tea Party Patriots president Jenny Beth Martin was receiving two salaries from the organization: a $15,000 per month fee for strategic consulting and a $272,000 salary as president, with total annual compensation over $450,000.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tea-party-pacs-reap-money-for-midterms-but-spend-little-on-candidates/2014/04/26/0e52919a-cbd6-11e3-a75e-463587891b57_story.html "Tea Party PACs reap money for midterms but spend little on candidates," The Washington Post, April 26, 2014], retrieved November 10, 2016.

Richard Uihlein, CEO of the Uline business supplies company, donated $4.3 million in the five years to 2020 to the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, the group's political action committee.

{{portal|Conservatism}}

• United States elections, 2010
• Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund
• Contract from America

{{Reflist|2}}

• [http://www.teapartypatriots.org/ Official website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100211194328/http://www.teapartypatriots.org/ |date=2010-02-11 }}

{{Tea Party movement}}

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Category:Organizations established in 2009

Category:Tea Party movement

Category:501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations

Category:Conservative organizations in the United States

Category:Libertarian organizations

Category:2009 establishments in the United States