It would truly gripe me if Cruz had 600-800 and Trump had 1175, and Cruz went for the blackmail to get on the ticket.
CNN >>> % in: 51%
Trump1,724
45.2%
Cruz1,193
31.3%
Rubio459
12.0%
Kasich380
10.0%
I don’t think it would be blackmail, it’s just horse trading.
Neither would want to take the chance of losing the nomination to someone who didn’t work their butt off and win the votes, so Trump wants the nomination, Cruz wants a place on the ticket... boom! Deal done.
Trump gets 90% of what he wanted (100% would have been an outright win), Cruz gets 75% of what he wanted (a VP slot sets him up in 8 years for a stronger run), and the establishment get to face the music of getting nothing.