NBC and most Cruz supporters are engaged in wishful thinking here.
Trump has been a national public figure for decades. His skeletons are all out there and have been rehashed to death. So have Hillary’s. No on is excited about Hillary. Most people can’t stand her. Everything she says is phony and comes out of a focus group. Love him or hate him, Trump speaks what he really thinks, and people can respect that, even if they disagree with him.
As for Cruz, he has been a relative unknown to the general public on the national level. You don’t think Cruz has a mountain of material that the press will hammer out 24/7 during the general? To start off with, his top surrogate, Glenn Beck, has been a non-stop fountain of insanity for years now. Then you have Cruz’s cozy relationship with religious leaders that will make him general election poison. To name just one: Tony Perkins from FRC who wants to jail homos and praised laws in Africa that called for executing gays. You think someone can win the general election with friends like this? I think you’re dreaming.
Hillary has not been outed the way she will be by Trump in the general. There is a lot of “red meat” material floating out there that she has been getting an easy pass on. I see “swift boat” style Benghazi ads, Bill rape victim ads, having her obvious I-am-above-the-law behavior slammed in her face like never before.
They are already scraping the bottom of the barrel with Trump.