This next election could seriously be a four way race with:
Cruz (or another Republican of the thousands declared)
Trump as a conservative leaning independent
The hildabeast from the dim establishment and
bernie sanders as the leftist commie loon independent.
Each independent could siphon of votes from the "mainstream" candidates but don't have a snowball's chance on their own. The deciding question is which side has the most extreme nuts who would vote for the outliers?
The election could be decided by who has the most dysfunctional base. Sounds pretty much like a typical Italian election.
That would be an entertaining Election.