Some of the most successful “Tea Party” organizations ended up being big money-makers for their organizers, rather than dedicated to the cause.
Here’s one article: https://www.thedailybeast.com/flushing-money-down-the-tea-party-toilet
To be fair, those who were hosting rallies, particularly with national figures like Palin in support of local candidates, were delivering value other than through straight grants to candidates. But the big players also ended up taking big salaries and doing a lot of self-dealing. They squeezed out the legit grassroots group and just didn’t bother to build anything sustaining.
Just look at what Sal Russo sucked out of it:
Very true, there has always been a collection of charlatans throughout American history who take advantage of the popular movement of the day to catch a ride on the wave and enrich themselves.
Q is the latest wave and there are a bunch of people cashing in already. They like to peddle 'exclusive', 'insider information that no one else has', 'their sources have been properly vetted unlike their competitors', 'legitimate', etc. These are the ones who exaggerate and frequently remind you of their qualifications while looking down their nose at you with their hands out for a payment so you too can become an insider and look down at your lessers too.
Scumbags, and Q has already started calling them out - Corsi for example. There is a definite pattern to their shtick, and they frequently ask for the sale and remind you of all the hard work and sacrifice they do on your behalf.
You can gauge the sincerity of content producers by whether or not they're getting paid - the ones putting out there on there own dime and time are the honest ones, maybe not always right but not trying to take advantage of a cause to pay for their hookers and booze. Just look at how many frauds misuse the Bible to make a buck.