Have some tasks today so not a long addition to this.  But I like a lot of what you wrote here, Reg, and on at least most of the people you discuss, I think I agree.  Maybe not with Cruz, who is strident and a bit slimy but also is really quite smart.  I've met him and know people who know him who don't put him with some of the Greene/Boebert nutjobs.  Might also say Oz is more of an opportunist than a "burn it down" kind of guy.  

What you leave out is that there are copious numbers on the Left who are as bad or worse.  At least equally as bad.  I would put put people like AOC, Tlaib, almost all of BLM (truly an "intimidation" organization), and even Harris - who is an absolute moron.

Of course, in a coffee conversation, we'd probably have some nuance to this and less of a tone that I'm adopting here.  But I'll add that.  The far Left is and always has been throughout history every bit as Fascist as is the far Right.  They are mirror/opposite images and neither is suitable for running the world.