I think bottom line, Palin’s like some of the rest of us— we are really really tired of losing. For once, just once, we see a YUGE movement coming at us and a spark of hope rises up, that just possibly, this one time, just maybe, we can WIN. Like Trump says, it’s been so long since we’ve won anything. The movement we see and sense is America winning again. There is no such movement behind Cruz, he just hasn’t inspired America to win again (not yet, anyway).
I just see Trump as a jingoistic populist with no foundation of core beliefs tapping into a group of people beaten down by 7 years of Obama pulling down the pants of and spanking their so-called leaders. He doesn’t support your core beliefs, but he makes you feel less impotent. Charisma has been substituted for principle.