It doesn't matter how ideologically correct a candidate/president is. He must be able to move the country to move congress.
Cruz is just now learning how to have charisma. I gotta tell you, when I first saw him speak after knowing a lot more about him from reading his positions, (don't get me wrong here - I can separate viceral reaction from what's actually going on) ... my visceral reaction was 'smarmy, speech is too practiced, can those eyebrows please not tilt so far like basset hound' ... in other words, my common dumb lIV voter side didn't like him. Now - that's KNOWING I like him, and knowing that's just how my body reacted. Cruz Can. Not. Yet. Move. America. Even. Though. He's. Almost. Perfect. Ideologically.
CAN NOT MOVE AMERICA, YET.
Trump certainly isn't perfect, but a large stampede of dumb American's (note, who each carry a vote and voice, unfortunately :-)) will follow the Trump cult. That's good in our case, because while we and Cruz point north, Trump points northerly, and his position papers point even more northerly thatn he does. He's laid out how he'll govern.
So you combine the direction with the stampede, and you have an America that can move somewhere.
During those 8 years, this not-so-charismatic-but-quick-learner, who knows everything he has to know but can't put it into practice because you can only do that with followers, studies how Trump gets people to follow him, let's Tump get the inertia going, and in 8 years hops on that freighter and points it a little better.
That's why Trump8 > Cruz8. That's a very very very powerful 16 years.
Cruz for 8 starting now? Won't get much done, won't do much to turn the oil tanker. Even at it's best, America IS still a MOB. Without the dumb followers who just pick who makes 'em feel best (about 40% of the country) ... you can't move the country. The liberals have done a wonderful job of that over the past 20 years, heck, 60 years. They did it, and they don't even have ideas than a thinking man can tolerate.
Excellent post.