Racial anxiety about Obama ignited the Tea Party movement

Evidence

The Tea Party was fueled by a blend of big money and popular energy. But ethnic and racial anxiety were the spark plugs that really ignited it. The very thought of a Black man in the White House was deeply disturbing to many white Americans. Running a close second was the fear of religious and cultural marginalization by radical leftists, secularists, or Muslims. — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross, 270

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Tea Partiers treat the Constitution as a sacred text akin to the Bible — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 273; Reactionary movements embrace radical change to defend or restore hierarchies. — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 334; Tea Party activism expresses fear of racial and generational change, not fiscal policy — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 651 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Tea Party activism expresses fear of racial and generational change, not fiscal policy #contradicts (1.00) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 651
• A trading-floor rant launched the Tea Party populist movement. #contradicts (0.90) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 478
• White anxiety drives demogogic scapegoating across US politics. #corroborates (0.82) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1139
• The Tea Party’s apparent spontaneity was manufactured by networked astroturf organizations #complicates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 131
• The Tea Party was a product of engineered state-legitimacy crisis, not grassroots spontaneity #contradicts (0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 950
• Obama’s presidency accelerated the link between racial attitudes and white partisan identity. #qualifies (0.75) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again, 120
• Dramatic political events shift racial attitudes positively even among reluctant whites #contradicts (0.75)
• White demographic anxiety causally preceded the rise of white nationalism #corroborates (0.72) — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 407
• Racial anxiety is a measurable stress response to intergroup contact #expands (0.72)