I never said an independent conservative would or should back down.
What I said was that in a 3-way between Zero, Trump as an Independent, and some Real-man Romney type pubbie BS, then Zero would win, Trump would easily come in second, and all the party-line pubbies would end up being the spoilers.
Why?
If your answer is “because mainstream Republicans will never vote conservative”, then my question is:
Whose problem is that?