Now that the crowded 2016 field of mostly GOP beta males is tripping all over themselves to genuflect to their vanquisher Donald Trump – and what an embarrassment to the cause of manhood they are – all eyes are on Ted Cruz.

Will he, too, bend at the knee to Trump’s chocolate bunny?

Or will Cruz continue on the righteously ornery path that has taken him from political nobody to conservative superstar in only four years?

For now, Cruz is playing it smart. There’s no point in showing your hand if you’re Cruz, because right now there is no pressure on you. You’re no longer a candidate, and it is always the candidate’s obligation to woo the voters, not the voters’ task to contort their souls into pretzels on behalf of the candidate. That means the onus is on Trump, not Cruz, to unify.

If you’re gonna play the game, boy, you gotta learn to play it right. You gotta know when to hold em and know when to fold em.

But at some point in the coming weeks and months there will be a cash call, and I hope the man I’m proud to call a friend, and whose courage of conviction I admire, has the political savvy to realize that what may seem like a tough call for him really isn’t a tough call at all. Once you remove the peer pressure and group think, which Cruz has already made a career out of defying, and plan out the long-term consequences.

If I was in Cruz’s inner circle at this moment, here are the seven things I’d be telling him:

1. There is more at stake for you in this decision than anyone else.

With the possible exception of Scott Walker, who will rightfully be given a chance to resurrect himself because of his record in Wisconsin, none of the 16 GOP candidates not named Trump have a guaranteed political future except Cruz and Fiorina. For they are the only two non-Trump candidates who definitely ended the race with more political capital than what they started with.

Furthermore, this election cycle painfully revealed the paucity of principled conservative leaders to rally and inspire us. Therefore, Cruz owes it to both the people who gave him his political capital, as well as conservatism, to not be pennywise and pound foolish here. The list of people waiting in the wings should he sell his birthright tomorrow for a pot of stew today isn’t long or credible, thus Cruz blowing his political capital has far-reaching implications for millions of patriots in desperate need of leadership.

2. This is not 1976, and you’re not Reagan.

As a first-born son of the Reagan Revolution, Cruz was fond of comparing 2016 to 1980. Clearly that’s not the case—2016 turned out to be 1789 instead. Now he should resist the temptation to cast this as 1976 and himself in the Reagan role. See that as giving an impassioned speech at the convention that sets him up for the future, all the while claiming to be the loyal soldier for the good of the party in the meantime.

The reality is the only people who care about the good of the party are the folks Trump conquered, and don’t forget that before Trump arrived they hated Cruz the most. Once Trump is gone, Cruz will return as public enemy number one to these people. Cruz should learn from what happened with Trump in this campaign: you don’t endear yourself to foes you’ll have to destroy later. Besides, anyone who would consider voting for Cruz four years from now is more interested in a fighter than a unifier anyway.

3. Remember one of the 10 Commandments of Political Warfare: Don’t ever betray your base.

The only Republican with a future, whose base is likely to be disappointed if he kneels before Zod, is Cruz, for obvious reasons. Many of those people consider themselves “principle before party voters,” and they took Trump’s dirt bag attacks on Cruz’s family almost as personally as Cruz did. Cruz voters will be among the last to hold the line on #NeverTrump, and a chunk of them will never give up the ship. If Cruz endorses Trump he risks splitting his future base like no one else does. The dumbest thing to do when you have the biggest base heading into the future is to split it.

4. This is a rare opportunity in politics when the morally righteous thing to do is also the most politically expedient.

It’s rare in politics to be politically rewarded for doing the most principled thing, but that is the case here for Cruz. And it will be much easier for him to win over people mad at him for not “unifying” later than it would be to reunify his base if he were to endorse. Look at all the voters who don’t care Trump is a progressive and a Hillary donor. Look at all the other candidates groveling before the same Trump they once insulted. These are soulless people that will come to your beck and call in the future if you’re winning. But Cruz’s odds of winning diminish if he splits his base.

5. You will tarnish your brand, at least to some degree, because all the reasons to endorse Trump tarnish it.

How do you credibly endorse someone you called a “pathological liar” for the highest office in all the land after writing a book called “A Time for Truth”? How do you endorse a guy for president who dishonored your wife, called you a whoremonger, and claimed your dad was a presidential assassin? That’s pretty much the most beta thing ever. I’m going to point this out now as a friend, in the hopes that our enemies in the D.C. Cartel and media may not have to do it later.

6. You will open the door to being out-flanked as the insurgent once again in your next presidential run, as you were in this one.

The biggest reason Cruz could not beat Trump is that Trump out-flanked him as the insurgent candidate (and yes, the media had a lot to do with that but not everything). If Cruz endorses Trump, he risks this happening to him again in the future. Except in 2020 it won’t be another megalomaniac celebrity candidacy if Trump loses, but a new hotness like fellow Senator Ben Sasse.

Sasse has been AWOL near as I can tell on pretty much every major fight since he got to the Senate, but he clearly sees an opportunity with #NeverTrump and is wisely exploiting it. By the way, that’s not a criticism but a compliment. The GOP needs more politicians who see morally righteous causes as political opportunities, not fewer. Sasse also comes from a neighboring state to first-in-the-nation Iowa, and has already given a major political speech here in my backyard, so you can see him working.

In 2020, Sasse will have even more Senate experience than Cruz ran with in 2016, and he won’t have the stench of Trump on him. Freeing him up to go after a sizable bloc of primary voters that should be Cruz’s, unless he opens the door for a Sasse type later by endorsing Trump now. If Cruz does, someone like a Sasse could turn around and do to Cruz in Iowa four years from now what Cruz did to past caucus champions Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum in 2016.

7. You literally gain nothing from this politically and it’s a one-sided waste of political capital.

Look at all the others who have assumed the position for Trump, and what have they gained politically for it? Answer: zilch. And at the cost of their integrities to boot. They now owe all their futures to Trump winning in November, and won’t have one if he loses.

Don’t be that guy.

Whatever you may think Trump will promise or hint at now, you know he won’t deliver later, but just mount Cruz’s scalp on the wall as another trophy. Like President Trump is going to spend one day fighting tooth-and-nail to confirm “Lyin Ted” to the U.S. Supreme Court. Come on, man.

On the other hand, the fertile political ground is the yet politically untapped #NeverTrump real estate. Cruz can have that all too himself, and it’s got long-term prospects. If Trump loses in November, Cruz becomes the immediate frontrunner in 2020. And if Trump wins, Cruz becomes the face of the principled opposition to what would likely be the most feckless presidency in the history of the republic.

Cruz learned early on there is hefty ROI potential on remaining principled in an era of cowards and charlatans. Now is the time for him to stay that course. (For more from the author of “Seven Reasons Cruz’s Tough Call on Trump Really Isn’t a Tough Call at All” please click HERE)

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