Amidst a slew of campaign losses and other embarrassing failures, the Tea Party is widely believed to be in fast retreat.

But in Florida, some contend that the Tea Party is still flexing its muscles, and the’ve chosen to defend a new civil liberty: The right to ride endangered manatees. Last night on the Daily Show, correspondent John Oliver went undercover in Florida to investigate this new movement. What he found is … well, stunning.

“Riding the manatee. [It] Stands for liberty and freedom and doing what we want to do without harming anyone else,” explained Tea Party spokesman Michael Coffman.

“Today we can’t ride a manatee, tomorrow we won’t be able to open a business…. The purpose of the endangered species act isn’t to protect endangered species, it’s to deny people private property.”

But the right to ride a manatee is simply the first threatened liberty on a slippery slope towards a full government takeover of our right to abuse and manipulate other living creatures.

“We have to understand that the federal government could eventually interfere with the ability to have monkeys trained to ride dogs,” he explained.

Think I’m kidding? Watch the episode yourself: