From Cruz’s point of view, nothing worse could happen to the USA than for it to get a President Trump.
Ted could be a player in the scene to the good for years to come, but his attitude seems wrong to me to be President. Not as a Dominionist so devout that it even crosses theological lines into the Mormon belief system. That is a troubled, confused system at best with a lot of just plain wrong stuff in it. But they both believe in a kind of theocratic right. That never worked in a Christian context; that only dumbed down the church while whitewashing the state.
No, from his perspective there will never be a President Trump. The worst that will happen is nominee Trump will lose in such a laughable manner that he takes down the GOP Congressmen running down ticket. We lose the Senate and maybe the House, too.
All because of the insistence on running an unqualified candidate with high unfavorable ratings and no conservative instincts or history.
That's the worst case.