There's only one candidate who has a PROVEN record of swimming in the opposite direction in the GOPe stream. Just ONE. He's never been a pro-single payer health care system supporter. He's never been pro-abortion. He's never been for limitations on the 2nd Amendment. He's never been in favor of funding Planned Parenthood. He's never insulted a POW for getting captured, ridiculed a person who is physically disfigured, nor waded into bizzaro truther territory by accusing a former president of knowingly lying about such things as the Iraq war and the 9-11 attacks. His convictions weren't recently (and conveniently) arrived at. Constitutional conservatism is in his bones.
I agree with the author of this piece. Trump's not to be trusted. IMHO, a vote for Trump is even more dangerous than a vote for a Dem, because with a Dem, you already know what you're getting. With Trump, all you know is what he wants you to know at this juncture. Once he has his way with you (the American electorate), you'll find out what kind of deception you've swallowed hook, line and sinker.
There is a candidate who actually fits the description of all the things I listed above, yet he gets pass after pass after pass from the Republican voter. These are the same voters who extend not a shred of grace to any of the other Republican candidates, yet are willing to overlook all the liberal positions and downright rudeness of Trump. If anyone -- ANYONE -- would have told me in June that FReepers would be following Trump as if he were the pied piper, I'd have told them they were nuts. Now I'm the one who has to bear the embarrassment of too much optimism.
But here's what I'm saying about Cruz.
I agree with him on every single point. So, should I be president? Does the fact that he's right about everything translate into the country FOLLOWING THAT DIRECTION? Because he can't do any of it without the country following. Trump is the only one who's GOTTEN THE MESSAGE ACROSS TO PEOPLE to PERSUADE THEM that some of this stuff must happen.
The country will survive ObamBernieCare. it will not survive the the border issues, which will lead not only to so so so much damage and debt, but also a permanent Democratic electorate. Both of those things end America.
I say Cruz can not move America. I say Trump already has.
Following on that, I can certainly defend Trump on some but not all of his deficiencies. But note of those deficiencies translate into him actually enacting any of that stuff.
I'm not saying I'm right about my interpretation of this point -> I just don't see Cruz supporters answering the questions: WHO CARES HOW PERFECT HE IS? CAN HE MOVE THE COUNTRY IN THE DIRECTION OF HIS PERFECTION?
I say NO, at least not yet. The country MUST move if it is to survive. Even the worst of Trump's deficiencies taken to their extreme do not threaten the survival of the country. Cruz's deficiency does - that the country won't follow him in enough numbers, that he's not persuasive enough.
He's a lawyer and a debater, he's not yet a leader. Leaders MOVE things. Leaders BUILD things. Leaders CHANGE PEOPLE'S VIEWPOINTS. Along the way - they often make messes and do things that stain their reputations.
That's what all the Cruz supporters do not seem to include in their equation: We don't win by electing the perfect man. We win if in 8 years someone has led the country to a different place, to a different outlook.
With Cruz you will always get to be right. But there is a saying "you might be right, dead right."
Pardon misspellings I'm running out the door and can't proofread!!!