I question what this will mean for him when Trump-supporting Republicans look back the next time he runs for POTUS.
I don't know. Maybe they'll be as effective as George W. Bush-supporting Republicans were at preventing the nomination of someone who said he should be impeached, and who then did this on a primary debate stage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--dOXHnHcEA
The unfortunate issue with that is George W. Bush (largely) has no one to blame for himself for his failures; he had the full 8 years in the White House.
The danger of whatever rump Trump faction remains after his loss is the same danger as with any other "Lost Cause" type; as he never won, you get to imagine whatever great things he would have done without having to consider reality. And when you compare those delusions to whatever happens in the first four years of a Clinton presidency, perhaps Cruz gets some share of the blame for it.
The point is presumably moot should Trump flub the debates and get shellacked in November, as then his legacy is simply his own screwups. Historically, did Rockefeller get much blame for Goldwater's loss or (closer to home) Ted Kennedy for Carter's?
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