At the moment, there are really only 2 primary candidates with the financial backing to run the full primary course. That would be Jeb and The Don. Jeb has the backing of the GOPe and outside monied interests. The Don is apparently self-financed with no visible reliance on DC or Wall Street. The Don’s real value to me would be to knock off Bush in a few of the early primaries, ESPECIALLY Florida’s winner-take-all, allowing some of the other less ably financed players a fighting chance at the nomination. The problem then becomes one of financing among those non-Bush remaining candidates, outside of The Don, which would place them under obligation to that same GOPe and other monied interests that are at odds with Tea Party type conservatives. IMHO you are looking at a potentially loose cannon or real change(?) with a Don nomination or a continuation of the status quo with a possible Bush/Clinton election. At this point and time I just can’t see the GOPe allowing anyone other than Bush the nomination with The Don the only one able to upset those plans due to his wealth.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/election-2016-campaign-money-race.html?_r=0 I'm not interested in blowing up the Republican primary if it means losing the general election. And I don't see Trump having a chance of winning. The chances he makes some unacceptable gaffes or his past statements simply come back to haunt him are huge.
Plus, there's the uncertainty of how he would govern. All signs point to an Arnold Schwarzenegger-like cozying to the left, excused with a shrug of the shoulders and saying it was the best he could do.
Cruz does not have the potential to blow up like a land mine the way Trump does. And we know he is more reliable a conservative than anybody else in the running. This is not the time to back away from Cruz because we're distracted by showmanship. This is like leaving your reliable old housewife for a hot young stripper you met over the weekend. This bromance with Trump has the potential to fade very fast.