Donald Trump is manifestly unfit to be president of the United States. His campaign has already driven our politics down to new levels of vulgarity. His appeals to racial and ethnic fears and prejudice are offensive to any genuinely Catholic sensibility. He promised to order U.S. military personnel to torture terrorist suspects and to kill terrorists' families -- actions condemned by the Church and policies that would bring shame upon our country. And there is nothing in his campaign or his previous record that gives us grounds for confidence that he genuinely shares our commitments to the right to life, to religious freedom and the rights of conscience, to rebuilding the marriage culture, or to subsidiarity and the principle of limited constitutional government.

As strange as the new alliance may seem, Robert P. George shares Cruz's penchant for gold-buggery (the other GOP alternative, John Kasich, has not addressed the issue). And Cruz's more adventuresome foreign policy positions are more in line with the neoconservatism of both Weigel and George (once again, Kasich is more cautious). But beyond that, Cruz is a cultural warrior par excellence; an attribute that appears to resonate with many of the endorsement statement's signatories. Indeed, the endorsement, published on Cruz's website on March 18th 2016, states:

"Ted Cruz has been a tireless fighter for the most vulnerable among us - starting with the unborn," said Jason Jones, a pro-life activist and filmmaker. "Ted Cruz has defended the sanctity of life at the Supreme Court, has worked to defund Planned Parenthood in Congress, and I am confident that as president he will create a culture of life."

"While many candidates have sadly conceded on the issue of marriage, Ted Cruz has courageously denounced the Supreme Court's decision," said Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage. "He has upheld marriage as a sacrament, recognizing that it is foundational to all civilizations. As Catholic institutions are facing increasing threats of fines and punishment for living by the teachings of the Church, we need a leader who has proven he won't back down - that he will always stand for our God-given liberties so that individuals, the Church, and communities are free to practice the faith, hope, and charity that uplifts all members of our society."

But what is troubling is the apparent willingness of these signatories to overlook issues that may very well accompany a Ted Cruz presidency, specifically how his particular brand of Dominionism could influence his domestic, and more importantly, international policies.

John Fea of the journal Religion News Service recently framed the issue of concern this way:

The elder [Rafael] Cruz told the congregation that God would anoint Christian "kings" to preside over an "end-time transfer of wealth" from the wicked to the righteous. After this sermon, Larry Huch, the pastor of New Beginnings, claimed Cruz's recent election to the U.S. Senate was a sign that he was one of these kings.

According to his father and Huch, Ted Cruz is anointed by God to help Christians in their effort to "go to the marketplace and occupy the land ... and take dominion" over it.  This "end-time transfer of wealth" will relieve Christians of all financial woes, allowing true believers to ascend to a position of political and cultural power in which they can build a Christian civilization. When this Christian nation is in place (or back in place), Jesus will return.

Rafael Cruz and Larry Huch preach a brand of evangelical theology called Seven Mountains Dominionism. They believe Christians must take dominion over seven aspects of culture:  family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business and government. The name of the movement comes from Isaiah 2:2: "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains."

Senator Cruz has never publicly embraced this Dominionist vision. But then, nor has he ever denied them.

From a Catholic perspective , Cruz's economics are repugnant. His enthusiastic boosterism of buccaneer, laissez faire capitalism is an anathema to Catholic notions of social justice that lean heavily upon distributive justice and the right to a living wage.

Thus it is reasonable to ask: does Ted Cruz believe that he is an anointed king who will oversee the transfer of wealth to those who share his particular evangelical views? If so, how will he do it? And by extension, would those who are not Seven Mountains Dominionists the legally allowed to create wealth for themselves?

Then there is of foreign policy.

Senator Cruz has famously stated that as president he would "carpet bomb ISIS". Such indiscriminate bombing in which many innocent civilians would be killed, also flies in the face of Catholic social teachings. Beyond that, there is the fear he will use ground troops in Syria and Iraq on such a scale that will give the apocalyptic-seeking ISIS caliphate the end times battle they so fervently desire.

These are important considerations. But these fifty Catholic conservatives too-casually gloss them over.