A new political movement has come along, frustrated with the party establishment's inability to resist a radical president and worsening economic conditions. This antiestablishment energy has already produced upset wins in party primaries.

I'm referring to the Tea Party movement that transformed the Republican Party during the beginning of Barack Obama's presidency. But you'd be forgiven for thinking I was talking about Democrats today. The similarities are striking, and what happened to the Republican Party then should serve as a warning to Democrats heading down the same path now.

The Republican Party's transformation into its modern-day Trumpian form didn't come from nowhere. The road was paved by the Tea Party movement and the antiestablishment energy it unleashed. Democratic voters are dabbling with that same energy now, elevating democratic socialists and other outsider candidates. They're priming their party for a similar takeover heading into the 2028 presidential election.

The Democratic Party is changing, much like Republicans did

In the years following the 2009 financial crisis, the Tea Party emerged as the rising counter to President Obama. Republican voters were frustrated with the establishment's inability to block Obama's agenda, namely the Affordable Care Act.

That movement propelled Republicans to retake the House in the 2010 midterm elections, with then-rising stars like Sens. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul riding the antiestablishment wave to victory alongside 87 freshman House Republicans.

Those frustrations intensified in 2012, when the GOP nominated establishment favorite Mitt Romney for president and lost another winnable election, and as House Speaker John........

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