This is a good portion of it, I think.
Trump's two core issues -- hammered home over and over and over again -- are the twin menaces of Illegal Immigration and Islamofascism. These are clear, pressing issues, facing each and every one of us.
Cruz, by way of comparison...:
This sort of silly, "Church Lady"-type stuff may send thrills up and down the legs of his most unblinkingly fanatic followers... but: Cruz's own issues of choice (particularly of late) simply aren't even blips on the national radar, overall.
Great men wrestle with great ideas and issues. By that measure, Cruz has long since rendered himself all but microscopic.
Even the bathroom issue is a grand distraction in the scheme of political things, in spite of getting a whopping 0.4% of America to sign up as hating Target over it.
Getting the sex genie to go back into the bottle is a church, evangelism, God thing. It can’t be a politician thing.
Lead Church Lady: Steve Deace.