Jimmy Margulies
At the behest of Tea Party members, some of whom call themselves ‘birthers,” President Barack Obama released his long form birth certificate. Among the most vociferous birther was Donald Trump, who demanded that the president prove he was a citizen of the United States. On April 30, 2011, the New York Times reported that the number of Americans who rated the Tea Party as “‘unfavorable’ was up to 47%. At the same time, the approval rating for Congressional Republicans was at 15%. The author did not specifically name the entity that was driving the Republican downturn, but by inference, he fingered the Tea Party faction.
Margulies suggests that the Tea Party snake, an appendage of the Republican elephant, used enough of its influence to frighten the Republican Party as a whole. This would prove prophetic a little over a year later when long-time Republican Senator Richard Lugar was defeated in a primary by a Tea Party Republican named Richard Mourdock.