[fireman15]

Well, then Trump should have no trouble getting to 1,237 on the first ballot.

You really don't get it. Even if Trump comes up a little short, the leadership will steer enough unbound delegates his direction in the first ballot for him to win. The more he needs the more concessions they will be able to get form him. Only the losers want a "contested convention". It is a recipe for disaster.

At this point Cruz is nothing but a tool for leadership to get the concessions they want from Trump. Cruz's entire team has been infiltrated by insiders. He has no control over them and at this point the spin he has been putting on these latest “voterless landslides” make him look even sleazier than he actually is. Cruz is history; he has disgraced himself and will not even get a second term in the Senate let alone the presidency.

[Dr. Sivana]

You really don't get it. Even if Trump comes up a little short, the leadership will steer enough unbound delegates his direction in the first ballot for him to win. The more he needs the more concessions they will be able to get form him. Only the losers want a "contested convention". It is a recipe for disaster.

If Trump is only a little short, he has a strong hand. Making concessions to the Establishment for unbound delegates (MANY of which are NOT Establishment) is one option especially if he can do it quietly, making a play directly to Rubio or Kasich is another option, which requires (for Rubio at least) some face saving which Trump is actually pretty good at, if he could find a point of contact with Cruz himself that would be a lead pipe cinch, but that ship has sailed, and Cruz can wait 4 or 8 years for another go as Reagan did twice.

The Establishment is not a monolith. Parts of it hate/fear Cruz more than Trump, and different parts of it want different concessions. Trump always has the option of publicizing the discussion as he did with Ailes over the Megyn Kelly thing months ago. You can do that if you have a strong position and a plan B.

We will see whether Cruz gets disgraced or not. I don't see it, and though not a Trump supporter, I successfully predicted that all the things that are supposed to end the Trump popularity wouldn't work, and would in some cases make him more popular. I called him macaca proof last summer for that reason, and view that as a plus.

I also believe that Sen. Cruz would be a far better president, and am willing to have him soak up whatever "not Trump" support is out there rather than a Kasich or somebody else. The convention is also about the Party Platform and future rules of the party, and I trust the typical Cruz delegate (including those bound to Trump or another on the first ballot) than I anyone else to do the right thing on those matters.