by Kevin Hart, Publisher

Ronald Reagan once said, “When you can’t make them see the light, make them feel the heat.”

After months of campaigning, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich still aren’t seeing the light.

They’re both refusing to acknowledge what has become a reality — Republican voters don’t want either man as their presidential nominee.

For the good (and the very survival) of the Republican party, it’s time to make Cruz and Kasich feel the heat.

First, it’s time for a reality check on where the race for the GOP nomination stands.

It has become impossible for either Cruz or Kasich to accumulate the 1,237 delegates they need to become the presumptive nominee at the Republican National Convention in July.

They’ve had their chances. But there are simply not enough state contests or delegates left.

The only candidate who still has a chance to hit the number is GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, who admittedly has been a sharp stick in the eye of the Republican establishment.

Cruz and Kasich are forging ahead with their campaigns for one reason only, and it should be a loud and clear insult to rank-and-file Republicans everywhere.

Both men intend to set aside the will of voters, and to try to steal the nomination at a so-called “brokered” convention this summer.

And “steal” is the right word for what Cruz and Kasich are up to. Their camps will argue that if Trump can’t accumulate 1,237 delegates, they have every right to toss their hats in the ring and be considered in subsequent rounds of voting.

That’s despite the fact that, as of now, Cruz and Kasich combined have fewer delegates than Trump.

This isn’t a three-man race. It’s a one-person show with two other candidates hanging on by their fingernails.

And the argument that Cruz and Kasich are making is hypocritical at best. Both men have spent their careers railing against bureaucracy and red tape — and now each is trying to use procedural loopholes and maneuvers to force themselves on voters who don’t want them.

They’ll tell you it’s about saving the soul of the conservative movement. But, at its heart, conservatism is about the rights of the individual — and individual voters have stood up in state after state and rejected Cruz and Kasich.

The fact that Cruz and Kasich are scheming to ensure these voters’ voices aren’t heard — and that the candidate who has received the most delegates doesn’t get the nomination — is a disgrace.

Voters, not politicians, get to decide what the future of the Republican party should look like. And Cruz’s and Kasich’s stance that they know better is demeaning.

Kasich, in particular, is showing a great deal of nerve. With only 148 delegates, he is in a distant third in the Republican race — and if other candidates had not dropped out, he’d likely be even further behind.

It’s rare to see a candidate who has performed so poorly still in the race this late in the contest. And if Kasich cared more about listening to voters than stealing the nomination, he wouldn’t be.

The real shame here is that both Cruz and Kasich are risking their legacies. Both have had their moments — richly deserved — as stars within the Republican party.

Kasich is widely considered an effective conservative governor who has stood up for the rights of the unborn and stared down left-wing special interest groups. And Cruz has spent his career defending conservative principles, even under relentless media attacks.

But both men are playing a pivotal role in tearing the Republican party apart by planning back-room deals that would cast aside millions of primary votes.

You don’t need to be a Donald Trump supporter to acknowledge a basic issue of fairness here. Many Republicans weren’t infatuated with John McCain or Mitt Romney as candidates, either – but their nomination processes were downright civil compared to what we’re seeing this year.

It’s time to end the GOP infighting and scheming, and focus on taking back the White House.

And that means Cruz and Kasich need to make a dignified exit now – while there’s still some dignity left to be gained.

Kevin Hart is the publisher of The Horn News