I was (ill-advisedly?) using the term in a different way. I was referring to Cruz's ability to win people over to his policy positions. His Americanist logic is practically impeccable, and he is a good communicator when he has to stay on point. (In this regard, I think Cruz is even better than Reagan, because he thinks on his feet very, very well.)
Rubio is much more winsome than Cruz, and otherwise roughly as good as Cruz in general public speaking, but I don't find myself trusting him on policy--especially not on immigration policy.
>> but I don’t find myself trusting him (Rubio) on policy—especially not on immigration policy.<<
I realize Rubio has screwed the pooch with many people by signing on with the Gang of Eight, but I honestly think he learned from that experience.
I don’t know which debate it was, one of the earliest ones though, but in it he gave a very good explanation as to what now has to be done and that he had learned that it couldn’t be done the way he’d set out initially to do. In short, he sounded like he’d sincerely learned his lesson and that he was now setting out on a completely different course to address the problem, one that, if followed, I suspect most of us would probably sign onto.
I don’t recall the details, however, and obviously it’s a make or break issue for a lot of people. However, not as make or break as one would think, since Trump is every bit as much for some form of amnesty as any other GOP candidate, and more so than some of them, yet the hardest of the hardcore “no amnesty” group seem to be fine with Trump.