I can't disagree with that, but I don't buy your premise that Trump is the 'RINO' in our hypothetical match-up between him and Cruz.
No one who's followed Trump over the last seven years, or has read any of his books, could reasonably come to the conclusion that he's a RINO by any stretch. In addition, there's his entire performance over the last five months of this primary to judge him by. Using that metric alone, there's no way any intelligent person could conclude that he's a Republican In Name Only.
I will accept that Trump doesn't meet your personal purity standards for what you want in a conservative presidential nominee, but where reality's concerned, he's plenty conservative enough for the job at hand. That's been borne out in his many comments, speeches, and position papers this summer.
OK he was for Hillary. Then he was hoping that Obama would succeed, even though most of us that knew an Obama success was not a USA success. RINO is a compliment to what Trump really is.
I watched Romney and McCain back off positions that Trump held in the past, If they are RINO's I fail to see much difference.