179 Rachel Blum, How the Tea Party Captured the GOP
1. Does America need a Truth Commission or would a Works Project do the trick? 2, The Tea Party emerged coincidentally with America's first Black president. Initially promoting libertarian values, they attracted broad swaths of the disaffected, those with libertarian concerns, but also those with isolationist, nationalist, and racist concerns. And then came Trump. Today's guest has researched the Tea Party, how it started, how it ate the Republican party, and where it might go from here. Rachel Blum is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Oklahoma University and author of *How the Tea Party Captured the GOP: Insurgent Factions in American Politics*, from University of Chicago Press. Member of the DemCast Podcast Network.