I think you are under a major misconception. Both Ted Cruz & I, and many at Free Republic are able to explain a complex Conservative philosophy, as well as the clear intentions of the Founding Fathers, in terms for which the word merchants on the Left have no effective answer. We have trained ourselves to that purpose, because we saw the need in our personal dealings with the Leftists in Academia. (I went to Oberlin College for my four year undergraduate degree, precisely to make certain that I could dismantle the best verbal propagandists on the Left.)
There is nothing in that, or in anyone else, which demonstrates higher intelligence than someone who did not train themselves in that direction; but, rather, applied his brain in a somewhat different direction.
That Donald Trump is highly intelligent is not just indicated by his success, thus far, in this campaign--despite a lynch mob mentality among his detractors. A better indication is in his success in building beautiful buildings--the direction that he has applied himself in, prior to this campaign.
And that leads to another point, which is not so well understood. Trump as a builder, is almost an implied metaphor--if you would try verbally to understand him--for a sound Conservative. Builders of tall buildings apply the basic Conservative approach to social values; they build things on a firm foundation--that is the good ones do--step by step. The Founding Fathers built the heritage, we seek to preserve, in the same way; step by step, on a firm foundation.
The contrast is with the Left who are always trying to tear down the foundation, and start from scratch--not on anything grounded in human experience, but on cloud-borne theories. (For a look at the American approach for building a political society: .)
Trump may not be a debater in the academic sense. Yet his thinking is inherently based on experience & reason. He has lived the basis of our best verbal arguments.
Either Trump or Cruz could be a great President. We need to get them back to working together. They really do complement each other, both talent and appeal wise.
In contrast, those faux Conservative pundits, who smear either, offer nothing but an endless demonstration of their idiotic bias & intellectual inadequacy--their inability to actually understand any approach but their own.
You certainly do a better job of using the language than I to describe Conservatism... = I am more of a ‘common sense’ Conservative... observing patterns people set.