The GOP could do nothing and watch Trump take the nomination.Then, the Hildebeast wins easily.
Show your math. What swing states does Cruz put into play? The election these days comes down to OH, PA, NC, IN, FL, IA, VA, MI, WI, NV, NM, CO. The states that love bible thumpers are already "red" and would be presumably held, it's those more secular blue-collar purple states that are the problem. See my previous post. McCain/Palin lost all 12 of them, Romney/Ryan took only 2 of them ( IN and NC ).
For Trump, who Cruz labels a fake conservative and really a (D)emocrat ( obviously an advantage in those purple states ) I can see 10 of the 12 easily competitive, only VA and CO are questionable to me but not necessarily impossible.
For Cruz, I really see none of them on the table except possibly IN. He would lose NC, IA and FL against Hillary just like McCain/Palin or worse. What do you see that I don't see? You cannot believe that Iowa caucus means they will vote for Cruz against Hillary! Cruz only beat Trump by a couple of percentage points in a field of (R) and (C). The general election includes (D) and (L).
The debate is on right now, and already Cruz has badmouthed (D)emocrats and Trump as a (D)emocrat multiple times! He is killing any chance of winning the general ( courting the (D) voters ) with his every single breath and does this continuously. Cruz is running for the primary and only the primary, and Rush and Levin are so deluded that they think you can somehow win the election with only (R) or even (C) voters. This is truly delusional! But with th republic literally on the line now, it is worse than delusion, it is downright dangerous.
Too many of your "bible thumpers" will not hold their noses and vote for Trump.
As a result, some of your presumed red states will go blue.