You may be on to something there. Most voters will at most hear / see what makes the major news shows. The Donald can if need be retreat slightly, blaming the Tweets about Carson on “Cruz staffers”, and noting that Cruz did apologize to Carson. Meanwhile, he’s planted doubts about Cruz in some of the Pub voters who would be active in the next couple primaries, and furthered his own narrative about not being a typical politician.
The downside, it seems to me, is that the whole dustup lessens the chance of a Trump / Cruz ticket.
It is still VERY early. This primary still has 4 months I predict. Next Friday for example is a year in politics. So much will happen between now and then. Saturday night is going to be very interesting.