CNBC’s Rick Santelli Reflects on Infamous Rant That Kicked off Tea Party Movement

There are many names and faces associated with the tea party movement, but the entire movement itself was kicked off in 2009 after an epic rant by CNBC’s Rick Santelli on live TV. That rant was five years ago today, and Santelli today reflected on what he calls “professionally the best five minutes of my life.”

Santelli told Business Insider he has absolutely “no regrets” about the what he said, which mainly focused on the government “promoting bad behavior” by helping those homeowners who “failed in their personal financial responsibility.”

In the middle of his rant, Santelli called for a new American tea party, and today he says this wasn’t just something that he immediately came up with. Santelli said, “The country was a tinderbox and I said something that lit the fuse.”

And you can watch the rant that started it all below, via CNBC:

[photo via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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