Ted Cruz is widely considered the runner-up in the Republican primaries of 2016. He was the last man standing before Trump, and even had a hail-mary pitch of choosing his VP before becoming the presumptive nominee. After a very unpopular decision not to endorse Trump, he came around and joined Trump's campaign shortly before Trump's poll numbers fell. Ted Cruz seems like a candidate perpetually caught between a rock and a hard place of his own making.

So what does he spend the next four years doing?

If Trump wins, Cruz probably made the correct call in returning to back him. But this also means he will have to wait eight years for his turn to run for president again. He is pragmatic enough to know he can't successfully primary out an incumbent president and his turn-around on endorsing him makes it pretty much impossible, anyway. At that point, his best bet is to hope Trump is a popular president and that he can ride his coattails into 2024.

If Clinton wins, I am not sure what Ted Cruz's plans are. Being one of the most unpopular people in the senate clearly did him no favors in the primary as he was unable to build the coalition necessary to overtake Trump, but he has no other strategies for remaining in the public eye. In order to win 2020's Republican primary, he has to remain as uncooperative with Democrats as possible. He likely needs to capture both the Trump coalition, evangelicals, and fiscal conservatives. Do his Trump endorsements/non-endorsements help him here or hurt him?

What is Ted Cruz's best path to the presidency now?