What Trump doesn’t get is that the GOP would be much happier with a 3rd party run than a Trump win. They’d get Hillary, ok with them.
What you don’t get is Trump would win either way.
You are making the huge assumption that the base will stay with whomever has an R by his name. I will contend those days were over when the Mississippi treason happened and is plainly evident by events of these present days.
Think about it, Trump has trumped the media, the DNC and the RNC all at the same time, and he already has his own bully pulpit. He has displayed he doesn’t need them and his supporters know this as well. The irony is that the media needs him. If they could, they would have just ignored him as they do Cruz.