Since President Trump’s inauguration, protesters around the country have risen in defiance of his presidency. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. After Obama’s inauguration in 2009, a protest movement formed to oppose him—which became known as the Tea Party. In this video, Atlantic writer Molly Ball explains how the Tea Party’s energy led Republicans to victory in the 2010 midterms, and what this tells us about the current resistance’s potential effects. “Today, it’s the Democratic Party that seems dead. They have lost the House and Senate. They control only 16 governorships and 13 state legislatures,” Ball explains. “But now they are hoping their own passionate movement can scramble the political map the way the tea party did.”



This is the fifth episode of “Unpresidented,” an original series from The Atlantic exploring a new era in American politics.

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