The Republican convention is on the horizon, occurring in our nearest city, Cleveland. In two months, the GOP will try to salvage their lot amid a razed political field. The situation that the party leaders face is one in which they can’t truly win. Currently, the three options for a Republican presidential nominee are extremely weak and arguably unelectable — or, if electable, devastating for the future of the U.S. Ohio Governor John Kasich hasn’t been able to rally votes to win the nomination outright, while businessman Donald Trump would undoubtedly be a stain on the country’s history with his racist, xenophobic and sexist policies and lack of overall political proficiency. Texas Senator Ted Cruz is a more acceptable candidate compared to Trump and has garnered more votes than Kasich, but he has generally deemed too extreme, ignorant and annoying to be elevated to the highest office.

But the chance for another Republican to step into the race has passed, so the party has been forced into damage control mode. The establishment has selected Cruz, with every withdrawn candidate except retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson endorsing him. Like much of this election season, this endorsement is almost comical. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham recently said, “If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.” A few weeks later, Graham announced his endorsement of the man. With this concession to the insufferable anti-establishment idealogue, the Republican party has now accepted that it has fragmented beyond recognition.

Trump is the leading Republican candidate, and has a hold on a vast number of Republican voters with his cult-leader magnetism. He has severed the voter base and kicked off a combustive reaction among them, igniting their fears and frustration in a blaze of impolite rhetoric. However, he is still one of the most disliked political figures in modern history, with 65 percent of Americans find him unappealing. In effect he is now taking the election hostage, forcing the GOP to recognize the uglier side of their voter base, threatening to blow up their party if they don’t.

Kasich is the obvious answer to Trump, a moderate who seems more fitting for the nomination of the Grand Old Party. However, he has suffered from the divided field and earned barely any votes, assuring that there is almost no chance Kasich will win without proxy by delegates. Cruz, the infinitely ambitious Machiavellian, is furious at the pest blocking his path to a nomination, and he insists that if Kasich were to be nominated by proxy at the convention the people will not stand it. “Someone is not electable if they can’t get elected,” Cruz said. And as it stands, the GOP has keeled over in acceptance of what has to be done to defeat Trump. Although in endorsing Cruz they increase their chances to stop Trump, the GOP surrenders in the fight against extremism.

With constant calculated campaigning, extremist and religious ideology and a government shutdown under his belt, Cruz is divisive to the core and thought to be unfit for the presidency in the eyes of most Americans. Cruz is and never will be an answer to Trump, merely a compromise with the flagrant hate and extremism of the Republican voters when what is necessary is a denouncement of it. With this the GOP has forsaken its identity and core values. While Cruz gives them the best chance to win this year with the least cost, the party is on a course to descend into the chaos of extremism.