So in effect your argument boils down to this: Trump supporters are Neanderthals and Cruz supporters are intellectuals. And Trump is leading a cult whereas Cruz is championing a cause. So, we have the base plebeians versus the noble patricians.
I will grant you that Cruz is by far the more eloquent of the two. He is a politician and a lawyer after all, and words and debating are their stock in trade. He should be good at it.
Trump is bombastic and instinctively has a visceral reaction to things. No argument there. But he is a businessman and results matter in the world of business, not words. I think many people want someone who is committed to action and turning the country around and just don’t think that a wordsmith will be able to do it. And those millions of people are not all plebeians.
I think you would agree that the country is in a terrible mess right now. And many of the problems facing us are even of an existential nature (ISIS, an invasion of illegal immigrants, an unsustainable level of debt, serious foreign threats, etc.). If there’s one thing we need going forward is a man of action. I think people sense that in Trump. That said, I personally think Trump needs to be more clear about what he intends to do as president.
Cruz the ambitious politician showed his true colors when he criticized the actions of Trump’s campaign manager for his supposed abusive treatment of a female news reporter. Turns out that what she claims never happened and a judge has dismissed the bogus charges. Cruz has not apologized for his self-serving exploitation of this “incident” and its unlikely that he ever will. Where is his intellectual honesty? Maybe a small thing, but still very telling about the man’s character.
We have already had a professional politician as president for the last seven years. He too is an eloquent talker.
I haven't read up on this a great deal, but from what I saw today on the news what you've stated is entirely incorrect. The police had probable cause to make the arrest, and the prosecutors office determined they couldn't make a case - ie, no reasonable likelihood of getting a conviction. I don't recall anyone in law enforcement or the prosecutors office saying it didn't happen. Far from it. The prosecutor simply determined there wasn't enough to make a case.
As to intellectual honesty... This is the part that is so amazing for me to watch. You nit pick at Cruz over this Fields issue, yet ignore the fact that the guy you are supporting has demonstrated NO intellectual honesty on any policy matter whatsoever. Trump flip flips, changes positions as needed and basically says whatever he happens to think is necessary at the time to further his campaign. There is zero conservative track record where it comes to Donald. What the heck good is a man of action if he isn't even a conservative. Isn't that why we are here? To support conservatives and conservatism? And yet so many of you will support Trump, a guy who has insulted, bullied, and trashed his way through the primaries and has actually DONATED to HIllary (and 100k more for the corrupt Clinton foundation) - the very person he claims to want to beat. Not only that he has given gobs of money to Pelosi, Schumer, Reid, etc, etc. And this you believe is intellectually honest?
I just............I dunno, this is the disconnect I see. No other candidate in the history of FR would have gotten that kind of pass. None. That is what I mean about gut level support. For whatever reason, you and many others will support Trump no matter the complete lack of intellectual honesty. I am convinced that if Trump came out tomorrow and reversed his position, even on major issues, that almost 100% of his supporters would remain loyal to him. And THAT is what I mean about supporting the man rather than policies. And it is precisely for that reason that the 2 camps, Trump and Cruz supporters, are talking past one another. How does a logical, intellectual person debate someone who supports a person (in this case Trump) so completely that, as Donald himself has said at least twice, could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn't lose voters. Even Trump knows his supporters are attached to him so strongly that he can say or do just about anything and not lose that allegiance.