“So, Cruz followers get on board ...or don’t.”
You don’t have to convince me. I’m fully prepared to vote for Trump, with or without Cruz. But if he loses a 10-20% of Cruz supporters, he is probably not going to win.
Trump supporters are overly optimistic about his chance of winning. He has a decent chance, but he cannot afford to cut any corners.
Neither he nor Cruz polls great in the general. Together they have a much larger base of support.
“Together they have a much larger base of support.”
On the contrary, Trump would lose too many votes by including Ted Cruz as a Vice President running mate. There are too many voters who will not and cannot compromise principles to vote for an illegal candidate who is ineligible for the office.
Furthermore, it would be too dangerous and a risk to Trump’s life to have Ted Cruz or another GOPe agent as a running mate. Paul Ryan and his ilk are already talking about having Trump impeached if the voters elect Trump as President. It can be assumed the Uniparty would be all too happy to position a Uniparty agent as Trump’s Vice President so this Vice President could be promoted to president after they have Trump assassinated. instead, you need someone like Allen West or another candidate who is an arch foe of the Uniparty to provide the Uniparty with the incentive to keep Trump very healthy. Note the shooting and assassination attempt on Reagan while Bush was his Vice President, the assassination of Kennedy while Johnson was his Vice president, and the assassination of Garfield while the British-Canadian citizen Chester Arthur was his Vice President.
Trump is optimistic. We who are following him, emulate his cheerful and positive outlook. He has faced every adversity down (media, corrupt GOPe, big money ad campaigns against him, etc., etc.).
Like all good entities (companies, etc.), the attitude of the entity almost always emulates the attitude at the top. No exception here.