There really is no way to know if attending the debate would have changed anything. We do know the main variable was that Trump lost on account of Cruz having a superior presence on the ground. How much his attendance impacted the vote is not something easily determined.
Well said. His Iowa performance might have been a LOT worse if he had shown up and had those FAUX News dirt bags, (Bloody Megyn and friends), pull the rat bastard crap we now know they had set up for him. We will never know but it is something to think about.