But as a strategy it obviously didn't work. That that the bible belt found Trumps bombast more appealing is a testament to how p*ssed off people are., which reflects on the utter failure of the GOP in representing its voters over the past several decades.
But the pendulum has swung way too far the other way with some of these folks, they are alienating allies they need, and that will never end well.
I read an article a few weeks ago about Robert Mercer, who is largely funding Cruz ATM. In 2013, when they (apparently his family is involved too) were deciding if they were going to bankroll Cruz for his Presidential campaign, they held numerous focus groups and had other studies done. In one instance, they took all of his speeches and made a “word salad” out of them. They noticed the word “evangelical” was missing, which apparently gave them pause, so it was decided that he needed to accentuate this phrase because the Christian Right was going to be his niche group. I was appalled at this blatant pandering for votes and I started looking at him differently. He’s been my 2nd choice for some time, but now I don’t think I could ever vote for such a disingenuous opportunist.