The New York Times calls it the "wrecking ball caucus," and it refers to far-right Republicans who are bringing Congress to its knees.
"Most of what Congress does is not good for the American people,” said Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, when speaking to the Times. "Most of what we do as a Congress is totally unjustified."
The American public doesn't necessarily agree. The last time it was surveyed in 2020, Pew Research Center found that most Americans believe the government can and should be used as a tool for good. After watching the COVID-19 crisis, however, "just 20% of U.S. adults say they trust the government in Washington to 'do the right thing' just about always or most of the time."
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When asked what the government is doing well, Americans agreed fighting terrorism is among the answers, along with national disaster response, ensuring safe food and medicine, and strengthening the economy.
"Yet Americans also have long expressed positive views of the federal government’s performance in several specific areas," explained Pew. "And majorities want the government to play a major role on everything from keeping the country safe from terrorism to ensuring access to health care and alleviating poverty."
Public trust in the government stands at a historic low, with both parties lacking. The survey doesn't parse out the difference between Congress and other forms of government, but negative views of Congress are near an all-time high (72 percent) under the new Republican Congress. In 2020, Congress had a disapproval of 61 percent.
The far-right minority of Congress is reportedly controlling the direction of the majority by holding government, including military, funding hostage.
"With a disruptive government shutdown just days away, Washington is in the grip of an ultraconservative minority that sees the federal government as a threat to the republic, a dangerous monolith to be broken apart with little regard for the consequences," the Times said. "They have styled themselves as a wrecking crew aimed at the nation’s institutions on a variety of fronts."
“There is a group of Republican members who seem to feel there is no limit at all as to how you can wreck the system,” the Times cited Ross Baker, a professor of political science at Rutgers University, as saying. “There are no boundaries, no forbidden zones. They go where relatively junior members have feared to tread in the past."
"The problem is we are being dragged around by 20 people when 200 of us are in agreement,” said Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID). “As long as we let those 20 drag us around, we are going to get these kinds of results. At some point in time, you’ve got to say, ‘We’re done.’”
It's possible for the 200 Republicans in the majority to join forces with Democrats, but doing so would be a deal-breaker for the far-right. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) made it clear that the problem they had with the debt ceiling deal was that Democrats and Republicans came together. Gaetz has made it clear that's a hard limit for him, and he'll hold a vote to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the position.
“This is a whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down,” McCarthy said of the group.
