He may have waffled, initially, but Cruz is now a team player, and he’s proving it by hitting the campaign trail for Trump in this last few days of the election season.

Cruz is set to appear at two events on Thursday, alongside VP pick, Mike Pence.

The pair will campaign in Prole, Iowa, Thursday morning before an afternoon appearance in Portage, Mich. Cruz won the GOP primary in Iowa and trailed Trump by about 10 points in Michigan.

This is a definite change of heart for Senator Cruz, who fought hard during the last weeks of the primary season to topple Trump, to no avail.

At the GOP convention in July, Cruz opted not to endorse Trump, but instead, said that voters should “vote their conscience.”

The suggestion that voters should vote their conscience, oddly enough, caused mass protests from Trump’s faithful, as well as a lot of establishment-minded Republicans.

But the two former rivals have struck a political reconciliation, due in no small part to Cruz’s warm respect for Pence.

Trump also backed an internet-freedom plan championed by Cruz and named key Cruz confidante Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) as one of his possible Supreme Court choices.

Cruz ultimately endorsed Trump in October with a Facebook post arguing that Trump is the only chance for a conservative administration and stopping Hillary Clinton.

I always have a problem when people use the word “only” in situations like this. Mainly, because it’s not true.

It’s also important to point out that Senator Lee, when informed that he was on Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees, said, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Lee is part of an endangered species known as a “principled conservative” and can’t be bribed or scared into backing a longtime liberal, reality TV hack as president.

In fairness, Lee is on an easy walk to reelection in his very conservative state of Utah, due to the novelty candidate – a guy calling himself “Misty Snow” –  put forth by the Democrats this year.

Cruz, who isn’t up for reelection until 2018 is already having a bumpier road to his reelection. He has long been a lightning rod for criticism from his colleagues, and now, because of the ugliness of this season of Trump, he faces increased pressure.

Let’s just hope that by 2018 the ship has righted itself and there are smoother waters for conservative candidates to sail.