Appearing as a guest on the Friday, October 11, PoliticsNation on MSNBC, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank called the Tea Party Republican faction a "very small minority" and accused them of causing "economic destruction."
After host Al Sharpton noted polling finding that Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz is substantially more popular with Tea Party Republicans than other groups, Milbank responded:
The Tea Party, the conservatives are actually a very small minority. The problem is they're dominant in the Republican Party because they have been so powerful in these Republican primaries. That's how Ted Cruz got his job. That's how he'll keep his job. Now, the real question is, has the rest of the Republican Party had enough of this? Mostly the business interests are basically funding the Tea Party.
The Washington Post columnist continued:
They thought they had common interests. Right now, with all the economic destruction the Tea Party has brought about, they are not on the same page this way at all. They're talking about now getting involved in running primary opposition against some of these Tea Party candidates. So if you see this split within the Republican Party, the Tea Party element that Ted Cruz has ridden to prominence is really a small minority within that party. It's just they happen to have a strangle hold over the primary process now.