| Trump will not debate Cruz because his "art of the deal" experience has taught him: you don't win by setting up an "I won, you lost" scenario. After all, you may need that opponent's support some day. Cruz is a good orator and he has excellent memory over facts, but he's not strong on the human compassion side. Cruz's debating style is a bit risky too. His strategy is to build up a fascade of knowing-all-the-facts and plays loose with the truth. He knows that in the vast majority of cases, no one will question the details of facts. But that approach backfired on Cruz in the CBS debate. When Cruz doubled down on the details of a certain historical fact, the moderator Dickerson recited to him the actual facts. And the lump in Cruz's throat was visible. But the point of debating is not to show your mastery of the facts at all, but to appeal to the heart of the jury or judge or voter. If you carpet bomb your opponent, the jury is likely to turn against you because you piled on and treated the opponent unfairly. You also sow the seeds of revenge and retribution. A good debater would never make a sweeping generalization about "New York values". Trump capitalized big on that Cruz mistake -- not by directly attacking Cruz, but by pointing to acts of personal heroism and valor during 9/11 that stirred the hearts and pity of voters.
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