In the late 2000s and early 2010s, two major political movements formed after the taxpayer-funded bailouts of Wall Street’s biggest banks: the Tea Party on the right and the Occupy Movement on the left.
The Tea Party helped Republicans retake the House, while GOP incumbents who had voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailouts were widely denounced. Animated by this same sense of righteous indignation, the Occupy Wall Street movement set up a protest encampment in New York City’s Financial District in September 2011, staying there for almost 60 days before police cleared them out in November.
A decade and a half later, America’s political environment feels strikingly familiar, but anti-establishment skepticism and even animosity appear stronger.