The X factor is not bombast... Trump doesn’t take control of a room because he’s bombastic. The X factor isn’t bravado, its presence. Trump enters a room and you can’t ignore him... he doesn’t have to say a word... that’s X Factor... whether or not they are loud, in your face or bombastic has nothing to do with having the X factor.
Trump has a presence about him, and always has, it has nothing to do with him being loud, confrontational or anything else... It has to do with the fact he can’t be ignored.. Trump can stand up at a podium during a debate and hardly say a word, and everyone still knows he’s there... that’s what X Factor is. X-factor means you can’t ignore them, not that they are loud, obnoxious, quiet, or anything else.. Trump has this, Christie has this, Cruz, Bush, Rubio, Carson, Carly, don’t... Hillary and Bernie don’t.
I’m not sure who is arguing for kings, never see anyone claim that. The President is not a Monarch, and the only reason Obama has been getting away with that behavior is frankly the republican party in congress hasn’t had teh stones to do its constitutional duty. Just as the democrats were before.
You keep trying to argue conservatism v liberalism, and that’s where and why Cruz is losing, if it were simply whos the most conservative, Bush would have never been president, Bush II would have never been president, McCain would have never been the nominee, Dole would have never been the nominee, Ford would have never been president, Romney would have never been the nominee.... etc etc etc... IF it were simply who’s the most liberal, Clinton would have never been president, Gore would have never been the Nominee, Mondale, Carter, etc etc etc.... This is the truth in politics, RARELY if ever is the most ideologically pure the nominee, and even rarer do the win the general election and NEVER do they do it by arguing they are the most ideologically pure.
Republicans have sold out this country, Democrats have sold out this country... they have both been doing it for decades while selling the electorate bread and circuses of liberal and conservative... that’s a fine argument to have when you have parties that the electorate believe have the nations best interest at heart even if they have differing views on what that means... but it is clear that this election cycle the population has had enough... they don’t believe the parties care about America first... and as such, arguing who is more or less conservative means jack crap.
Look at the Democratic side.. Bernie is beating Hillary, why? Same reason. Yes, she’s unlikable and a liar, but for as screwed up as Bernie is, and his political ideology is a failure, what he is railing against aren’t really bad things.. he’s pointing out in many cases very real things that need to be addressed... his solution to them is all wrong, but they aren’t all invented problems.
If you can’t see this election is the people telling the parties to go ef themselves, because they have gotten wise to how they are both selling them out daily, then you really need to step back a bit and look around.
We are on a path where Bernie is very possibly the Democratic nominee... or at the very least still with a possibility to win the public vote for the nomination for the Democrats... and Trump is on a very real path that could see him win the Republican nomination. If you can’t see that this is a total repudiation of both parties by the electorate, you need to visit an optometrist.
That and Trump's X-factor and I think you have the whole thing in a nutshell.
Cruz's supporters keep arguing that he is the "true conservative" but that is like arguing that a chess position is superior because the rook is on the white square. But my rook is white or black or the queen is red or whatever. The label is not an issue of consequence.
There is no logical connection between the label and what needs doing. Somehow we have held the belief that conservatives would be honorable, reasonable, just, patriotic, frugal, concerned for the country and not so much the world, etc. , and these were fine qualities compared to whatever New Deal Liberalism was selling. So we bought the story that if we just got a true conservative all would be well. Well it turns out they are not those things, and the ideology is not producing the desired result.
Then Trump comes along and says - look I hear you - here are your big problems [immigration-jobs-trade, veterans and Obamacare, defense and Iran and Iraq and ISIS] and here is how we are going to solve them [wall, repeal and replace, tough, tough on defense - so tough], and the reason they exist is those incompetent hacks on both sides don't know how to do anything. And I am tough - oh so tough - so tough Putin and I will get along just fine. And I am fighting for you for a change - don't believe me - just watch what I have already done for some veterans [I am going to guess so VA administrators got some telephone calls from Trumps lawyers that weren't so pleasant].
What's Cruz's story? What's Jeb's story [mommeeeee!!!!]? We know Rubio's story - Cruz lied.
The key questions for me are...
What are Trump’s policy positions, and how does it comport with my beliefs? I’m really not sure, and don’t know how anyone else can claim to know, because Trump has been all over the place.
What does Trump plan to accomplish, and HOW does he intend to do it? Presence is not an answer. People said similar things about Obama in 2008, and look how that turned out.
I’m not interested in watching Trump give the middle finger to the “Donor Class” or the “Establishment”; because frankly, he’s been both, and he’s said so.
We have to live with a President for four years. Nobody knows what “President Trump - Day 2” looks like.