Tell a Republican activist that Cruz is disrupting the decorum of the Senate, and they will more than likely respond: Good!

“The culture of the Senate has to change, because the direction of the country has to change,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola, a key Cruz backer during the 2012 Texas GOP Senate primary.

Republican strategist Dave Carney, who worked for Cruz’s 2012 primary opponent, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, said part of Cruz’s appeal is that he “doesn’t really care about the tribal traditions and kabuki dance of Washington and the Senate.”

“The establishment disdain and mocking, I think, feeds his willingness to continue to do what he’s doing. If he wasn’t being effective or having an impact, we wouldn’t be hearing much about him,” Carney said.

The hostility of Cruz’s fellow senators would make it difficult for him to help broker a grand bargain on immigration reform or debt reduction — if he were interested in doing anything of the kind. So far, there’s little indication that Cruz wants to be a master deal maker.