The following article by Bryan T. Gervais and Irwin L. Morris was posted on the Washington Post website September 7, 2018:
In August, after former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlentylost his state’s Republican primary for governor, he wistfully concluded, “The Republican Party has shifted. It is the era of Trump, and I’m just not a Trump-like politician.” Indeed, despite the protests of “Never Trump” Republicans over the last three years, President Trump is clearly at the center of the party and no longer an “outsider” or interloper.
But Trump did not make this happen singlehandedly. In our new book “Reactionary Republicanism: How the Tea Party in the House Paved the Way for Trump’s Victory,” we argue that one important group blazed the path Trump followed: the tea party movement. In substance and style, Trump has realized the agenda that tea party Republicans forged in the Obama years.
Our research focuses on tea party Republicans in the House — where the tea party’s congressional base was most powerful. We assessed each House member’s association with the tea party based on support from tea party activists and groups and whether the member explicitly identified with the tea party movement.