I favor Cruz over Trump (and believe he has a better record of opposing the “establishment machine” than Trump has). I was displeased, though, by Cruz’s attempt to split the responsibility for the threat of violence between the protesters and Trump. “The responsibility for that [violence] lies with protesters who took violence into their own hands, but in any campaign responsibility starts at the top...” Huh? Both those claims can’t be true.
Whether trying to make that link will help Cruz in the campaign I don’t know (it’s the kind of b******t that helps Trump :-), but I wouldn’t be surprised if this backfires on him. Violent protesters versus Trump? Rather than blame Trump, most Republicans — and even a good many Democrats — will be inclined to put the blame on the protesters, and feel more favorably (or less negatively) toward Trump.