RE: he didn’t think Trump would be the nominee!
Well duh! Why would Ted be wasting his time running if he thought Trump would be the nominee!
But you don't understand! To the Trumpettes, Cruz was belittling and attacking Trump by not acknowledging Trump's eventual and pre-ordained triumph. For that, he had to be crushed, which of course led to the silly birther attack, the attacks from the left by Trump, the "nobody likes Ted" comments, etc.