The Tea Party Brain

The Tea Party mindset seems to thrive on absurdities. A recent letter to the Payson Roundup confidently asserted that George Soros is paying protesters in Payson. As usual, this appears to be another flight of right-wing fantasy.

Let's think this through. Where exactly do people get paid? Has anyone ever cashed a George Soros check at a local bank? Is there a secret payroll office hidden behind the donut shop? Are protesters paid in cash, direct deposit, or perhaps prepaid debit cards handed out at rallies?

The questions are endless because the claim itself makes no sense. Yet these stories continue to circulate because they appeal to a certain strain of political paranoia. Every protest must be a conspiracy. Every disagreement must be orchestrated. Every citizen expressing an opinion must secretly be on someone's payroll.

The irony is especially rich because the very name "Tea Party" came from a protest movement. Apparently, protesting was patriotic when they were doing it, but now anyone protesting the current administration must be a paid operative.

One wonders how this supposed Soros payment system works. Is there an application process? Background checks? Performance reviews? Does someone monitor sign-waving technique and slogan creativity before authorizing payment?

Perhaps enterprising Tea Party members should sign up themselves. If the rumors are true, they could collect the money and then donate it directly to a Trump campaign committee. It sounds like a foolproof plan—assuming, of course, that the imaginary checks arrive from the imaginary payroll department that exists only in the fever swamps of political conspiracy theories.

The truth is much simpler. Most protesters show up for the same reason people have always shown up to protests: they care about an issue. Agree with them or disagree with them, but pretending they are all paid actors is not an argument. It's just a convenient way to avoid listening to what they have to say.