Cruz won’t be tossed aside. They need his voters. He’ll be given something. They’ll run polls asking what they can give Cruz that would most please his voters. SC Justice is one thing. But that can’t be guaranteed and Cruz knows they’ll lie to him. But they can give him the vice president slot. Most of his supporters will say “We’ll take that because he can be president after ONLY 8 years.”
His voters will be irrelevant for their purposes which is to lose.
Even if they placated them, their numbers combined with the relatively low qty of est. voters would draw the same result we had with McCain or Romney.
Trump’s GOP voters plus his Indy and crossover Dems are what would bring this home. Trump will probably get his 1237, but if he goes to Cleveland close and is denied, his supporters are not going to forgive and forget, and they will not support Romney, Ryan or any other shill the GOP forces on them.
And congress will NEVER allow Cruz to wear a SCOTUS robe.