The Republican establishment profits from the existing system and the media are ideologically opposed to the old Republican ideology so, yes, the establishment will combine with the media in an attempt to discredit the tea party and its ideology.
If The Tea Party is ultimately successful and takes over the Republican Party it is only a question of time until it becomes the establishment and it must fend off or co-op the next new ideology. That is normal and it is the way our system has worked since the framers first started decrying political parties.
What is not normal and what is not legitimate is for leaders of the upstart ideology to sell out before they acquire political power while they hold themselves out to their constituents as offering the vehicle to acquire political power through influencing the Republican establishment. That is fraud. It is fraud to collect money under false pretenses.
It's also illegitimate to claim credit for an election victory such as David Brat's when they contributed nothing. By nothing I mean no money whatsoever, no endorsement, not even a word of encouragement.
Listening to the news reports today, the major media trumpet the victory as a victory of The Tea Party when at most it was a victory for tea party ideology, thankfully uncontaminated by hucksters who have apparently infiltrated the movement. Most people who hear those news reports are not political junkies like we are and will assume that the tea party movement is not dead but alive and vigorous. Part of that is to the good but we ought not to deceive ourselves as to what happened here.
It will be difficult enough to wrest power from the likes of Boehner and McConnell without crippling the effort by tainting it with opportunists.
