Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he can’t understand why the tea party remains popular, given its similarity to the anarchist movement and its steadfast opposition to the “inherently good” government.

Mr. Reid, Nevada Democrat, made the statements during floor remarks in the Senate earlier this week, expressing dismay over legislation stalled because of tea party opposition, Breitbart reported.

“We have a situation where this country has been driven by the tea party for the last number of years,” he said, adding that he learned about anarchists in high school. And though “they were different than the tea party because they were violent,” he said, as Breitbart reported, the two movements do have similarities.

“Anarchists … did not believe in government in any level and they acknowledge it,” he said. The tea party “kind of hides that,” he said. “They don’t say they’re against the government, but that is what it all amounts to.”

Tea partyers “throw a monkey wrench into every form of government, whether it’s local, state or federal,” Mr. Reid said, as Breitbart reported.

And he can’t understand why: “Government is not inherently bad. Government is inherently good,” he said.

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