The Grand Old Trainwreck

To say there is discourse through the Republican party would be an observation a blind person could make. There is a true mess going on on the right side of the spectrum. The fight between classical conservatism, neo-conservatism, and populist nationalism has split the Republican party, or a more accurate way to describe it would be to call it a shattering of the very foundation. A civil war over the meaning of being a Republican.
While viewing a Trump rally, and the chaotic aftermath of attendees leaving in Cleveland, I noticed something obvious about those who went in support of Trump. They supported the views, more than they supported the man himself. It's not the larger than life persona of Trump that is the driving factor of Trump supporters, it is mostly that he is the voice of their long unrepresented views. It's a belief in lost American exceptionalism, that this country is being taken away from them by some hidden elite class, that China is really taking all of our jobs away.
Ted Cruz on the other hand, plays mostly to those who are truly conservative, and the evangelicals. The kind of people that started the Tea Party movement. Those who believe America was founded on Christian values, and somehow was founded by God himself. This can be seen in there rhetoric on the 2nd amendment, calling it a god given right to own guns. Because in the book of Genesis it reads, "on the 6th day, god said let there be guns." And even worse, the way they talk about the constitution is like it was write by the hand of God instead of a group of wealthy white landowners. These true conservatives have no time for compromise, and have shown it in the Senate by shutting down the government because they didn't get there way. These are the people who supposedly embody the true American spirit, extolling our vets, while refusing to give them housing, or proper healthcare.
These are the two people most likely to gain the Republican nomination in my city of Cleveland this summer. The best way to sum it all up is by Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina when asked to make the choice between Trump and Cruz, "It's like being shot or poisoned, what does it really matter?"