ABSTRACT
The Tea Party movement and the ascendency of Donald Trump are among the most significant developments in 21st-century American politics. Essential to understanding the causes of support for both the Tea Party and Trump is a facet of the conservative media establishment known as the “outrage industry.” Indeed, Republican members of the House of Representatives who made efforts to affiliate with the Tea Party helped to normalize the uncivil, resentment-inducing social media rhetoric now commonly associated with Trump. This chapter examines a particular dimension of the emotional messaging of Tea Party members’ social media communications—anger in Twitter feeds. The authors demonstrate how the angry rhetoric of members attached to the Tea Party is akin to outrage industry messaging during the Obama presidency. They conclude by discussing the potential social and political implications of the anger messaging of legislators who attached themselves to the Tea Party movement.
