I am just going to answer you this way....we ran the “weak” Republican Establishment RINO, John McCain in 2008 for POTUS, and, he told us what a good man Barack Hussein Obama was, and he ran a terrible campaign and got slaughtered by a known American hater who dealt with Obama with kid gloves.
Ditto for Mitt Romney, another Republican Establishment RINO, in 2012, who proved to b even weaker the MCCain. For goodness sake....Romney let Candy Crowley of CNN mop up the floor with him!!!
Now you go nominate a Rubio or even a tough guy lik Ted Cruz....and...it will be curtains once again for the GOP!!! Trump is the one to save the Republican/Conservative party & make our nation Great, once again!!! End of story!!! And...the Republican primary voters better grab that fact real quick!!!
You can't be labeled a Conservative or be the hope to save that wing of the party because it's expedient. You can't be labeled Conservative having supported the Clintons, advocated for higher progressive taxes and abortion. You can't be labeled a Conservative when you point to the Canadian helathcare system as successful. You can't be labeled Conservative when you favored legalizing drugs.
Look, I'm no Trump hater. I love what he's doing for the party and the race. He's saying things no one else will but he also has the luxury of doing that because he doesn't want to be tied down to any of his past views.
All that you have said about Cruz was said about Reagan. Elect him and the party is done. Elect him and he'll lose every blue state. Elect him we'll never win the White House again.
I speak only for myself. Cruz is the only true Conservative in the race. When you pit a true Liberal against a true Conservative the Conservative mostly wins.
BTW - everything you complained about Romney and McCain can be tied to Trump. Like I said, being Conservative for right now isn't being.
The primaries will bear it out. If Trump comes out of it ahead, then he'll have my vote.