That was the plan with George H.W. Bush back in 1992. And we all knew how that turned out.
Don’t force The Donald to play the part of H. Ross Perot.
Perot never tried to win the Republican party nomination like Trump is doing. Perot always ran as an Independent. Even so, if Trump lost the nomination to Bush and ran as an Independent against him, then he can split the Republican vote all he wants for all I care.