Editor's note: The following column represents a personal political endorsement by Joseph Farah, the editor and founder of WND.com, and not a corporate editorial endorsement.

It's been a strange 2016 election cycle.

On the Democratic side, it's a contest between a former senator and secretary of state who should and could be indicted at any moment for shocking breeches of national security laws and an avowed socialist who once honeymooned in the Soviet Union.

Pick your poison.

On the Republican side, it's been a wild ride with Donald Trump dominating the news coverage and frequently displaying behavior unprecedented in presidential politics in modern times.

TRENDING: Franklin Graham to lead prayer march in D.C.: 'Only hope for our country is God'

It's been brutally contentious, sometimes ugly and, at times, hilarious.

Technically, there are four candidates still in the hunt for the Republican nomination. But realistically, it's down to two from the original 17.

The Republican presidential nominee is going to be either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz.

While Marco Rubio has been spending money like a contender, he simply hasn't demonstrated that he is more than a place or show candidate – the Minnesota caucuses and the Puerto Rico primary notwithstanding. John Kasich seems like a two-state candidate – having spent more than $30 million and 60 days campaigning in New Hampshire for a second-place finish and hanging around for his home state Ohio vote in hopes of a win.

What do YOU think? Who would be the most formidable Republican nominee? Sound off in today's WND poll

So, it's time to consider who the Republican nominee should be between the remaining two who have demonstrated the ability to win a diverse number of states.

It's also time to stop the political fratricide. It's time to refocus the GOP campaign on winning in November and saving the country from ruin.

No matter who drops out or who doesn't, it's time for everyone, including Trump, to stop trashing his Republican competitors. It's not only undignified, it's counterproductive to unity, healing and victory.

It's also time for all freedom-loving Americans to consider what the Democratic Party nominee has to offer for the future. What Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have to offer is the past. They offer a vision that has nothing in common with what has made America great over the last 240 years. Neither believes in the rule of law, the oldest and greatest Constitution in the world, a free-enterprise system that has made the country the envy of the world, individual rights, Judeo-Christian values, national sovereignty and strictly limited government.

Whoever ultimately win the Republican campaign – be it Trump or Cruz – represents a vastly more hopeful future with plans that offer high potential for recovery from what we've lost.

That's why it's time for Republicans to stop eating their own. To win in November will require unity among the top vote-getters and a healing of the bad feelings of record numbers of GOP voters who turned out in what is the equivalent of a grass-roots rebellion against establishment, business-as-usual politics.

I am preparing myself for what appears to be inevitable – nominee Trump or nominee Cruz.

Who is my preference?

I think Ted Cruz's history demonstrates he has the clearest, most Reaganesque vision of where the country needs to go in its much-needed recovery from eight years of Barack Obama. Cruz is principled, sophisticated and a solid conservative whose understanding of and commitment to the Constitution is unshakeable.

At a time when one of the three branches of the federal government, the Supreme Court, hangs in the balance, it is Ted Cruz who, without question, can be counted upon to nominate justices who will uphold the high standards of Antonin Scalia and the originalists.

Ted Cruz is the real deal. That's not to slight Donald Trump, who has played an invaluable role in this campaign – breaking the back of political correctness, presenting a positive vision forward for America and standing up to those who would prefer to see the nation borderless and rudderless.

If Trump turns out to be the winner of the GOP nomination, I will unhesitatingly support him.

But it's time to choose – between two.

For me the choice is clear – Ted Cruz.

Experience more of Joseph Farah's no-nonsense truth-telling in his books, audio and video products, featured in the WND Superstore

It's also time for civility to reign between these two candidates who have been proven vote-getters.

Whoever wins the nomination will need the support of the other – and, especially, his voters.

The two top Republicans need to stop the scathing attacks on each other and to focus on the real threat posed by the specter of the socialist and the criminal vying for the other party's nomination.

America, as we have known it, simply can't survive another corrupt and lawless White House – not four years and certainly not eight years. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, who have far more common ground than differences, need to start the healing process in the best interests of the country.

Media wishing to interview Joseph Farah, please contact [email protected].

