Would you support someone who insulted your wife and your father? Please. Trump played dirty and that’s why Ryan and so many others will not support him. Like Bill Clinton, he made his bed and will now have to lie in it.
Cruz played dirty too. Perhaps not as dirty, but it all depends on whose ox is being gore and what you think is dirty play, so to speak. It seems folks have seen different actions in different lights, what is offensive to one does not seem to be offensive to another. In any case that is now an issue for anthropologists and historians to consider, the main issue now is the coming national election.
I know it is hard to see your candidate go down, I was a Newt fan in 2012 and it took almost the entire election season for me to come around and support Romany. But in the end I did, and I voted with some minor amount of enthusiasm for the fellow, I do think we would be much better off had he been elected, even with all of his defects. In any case one must get past that.
Here is the thing, if Trump goes down, bad things will come to pass. He is the only realistic option at this point. yes he has a lot of flaws, but as I note you seem to be pro-gun, he is pro-gun, Hillary is most certainly not.
If Cruz and his followers decides to stay out based on some ideological purity, well that is certainly their option and one must ultimately be guided by ones inner conscious. That said Cruz and such folks should not expect to find folks receptive to Cruz in 4, 8, 12, or 16 years is that is the path they follow. Conscious works both ways, Trump supporters can have a principled opposition to a politician they see as self-serving in the years to come.
Which means the end of Cruz’s national career, should he not follow though on his promise to support the nominee, made when the thought it would benefit him.