The Republican "Establishment" views Ted Cruz, not Donald Trump as the Threat

UPDATE: After all the blow back that I got on Twitter about this post, it is amazing that Trump is now saying that he is moving towards being with the establishment:

"I think they're warming up. I want to be honest, I have received so many phone calls from people that you would call establishment, from people — generally speaking ... conservatives, Republicans — that want to come onto our team."

Original: Nate Silver at 538 explains that he thinks Trump is much more likely to be the Republican nominee because the Republican establishment seems to be fine with Trump winning.  From Nate's discussion:

But so far, the party isn’t doing much to stop Trump. Instead, it’s making such an effort against Cruz. Consider: 

• The governor of Iowa, Terry Branstad, said he wanted Cruz defeated.

• Bob Dole warned of “cataclysmic” losses if Cruz was the nominee, and said Trump would fare better.

• Mitch McConnell and other Republicans senators have been decidedly unhelpful to Cruz when discussing his constitutional eligibility to be president.

• An anti-Cruz PAC has formed, with plans to run advertisements in Iowa. (By contrast, no PAC advertising has run against Trump so far in January.)

One doesn't have to look very far to see how Trump would protect vested interests.  While Ted Cruz will end the massive ethanol subsidies, a bold move for someone running in Iowa, Donald Trump did the opposite: he called for higher ethanol mandates.  This is the reason that Governor Terry Branstad is attacking Cruz. From The Hill Newspaper:

The event came hours after Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) told voters in the first state to choose presidential candidates that they shouldn’t vote for Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas), one of Trump’s most potent challengers.

Branstad cited Cruz’s opposition to continuing the ethanol mandate after 2022, saying Cruz is “heavily financed by Big Oil.” 

Trump welcomed Branstad’s comment. 

Cruz has “been mixed in the subject, he goes wherever the votes are, so he all of the sudden went over here, and then all of the sudden, he got slapped,” Trump said. “So it’s very interesting to see.” 

Trump was generally very supportive of the ethanol law, saying he is “100 percent” behind the ethanol industry, a powerful force in Iowa. . . .

When Ben Carson did the economically responsible thing and challenged tax deductions in the current code, something that would challenge many vested interests, Trump attacked Carson.