The base wants to lay new tracks for a major change in course. Ideologically grounded conservatives want to bypass the administrative state and leave it a ghost town. Cruz’s disinclination to capitulate would help achieve that goal. When facing the rest of the world, we need a strong leader who takes foreign threats and relationships with our allies seriously. Cruz is no radical or yo-yo critic in this regard, just consistently hawkish (“carpet bombing” is a rhetorical, attitudinal statement, not an actual policy).

ut it’s not just the base that Cruz needs support from. “Establishment voters” have to feel comfortable that Cruz would be a productive, constructive president who can reroute the train without derailing it. So here’s something for the establishment types that I haven’t heard pundits discuss: the vast difference between being a member of a deliberative body, where multiple members must give and take and find a majority for legislation, and being president.

Chief executives are not team players. So maybe Cruz isn’t that great at his current job, by this metric. Maybe he annoys the crap out of his colleagues. It’s apples and oranges. You’ve got to work with Congress on some level to get legislation to your desk that you’re willing to sign, but you have the ultimate position of strength. You get the final say almost all the time. A good poker face and the will to dig your heels in lends itself well to the office of the president, and Cruz has those qualities in greater supply than any of the other candidates do.

Cruz could make a solid executive based on these qualities and the extremely important fact that he is remarkably consistent compared to the other candidates, with a lifetime conservative rating from the Heritage Foundation of 98 percent. Before he entered the U.S. Senate, his record as Texas solicitor general (2003-2008) shows both efficacy and dedication to the Constitution. He presented 43 oral arguments in court, winning the vast majority, and won five of nine arguments before the Supreme Court. At the very least, critics should give him credit for picking the right battles.