Every time I start to think that the politicians at the national level can do no more “stupid,” they pull another rabbit out of their hat full of “dumb.”

I’d like to share examples of this from both political parties, but it’s the Republicans who just can’t leave well enough alone. Each day, they make the Democrats in Congress and the Democratic presidential candidates look smarter, and at the same time, they’ve made the Democratic National Committee look extremely wise.

When the National Republican Party started talking about wanting to have an open carry gun policy at their national convention, I knew the train had just come of the tracks.

Can you imagine those Donald Trump and Ted Cruz supporters having guns? The only adult in the Republican camp, John Kasich, would be mortified. You can just see Dopey Donald telling his supporters to shoot back if shot at, and perhaps to shoot at Cruz delegates just for the fun of it.

Of course, law enforcement would have a task no agency should be tasked with — trying to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys when everyone has weapons.

This is as stupid as Trump’s remark that if all citizens were armed, the movie theater massacre wouldn’t or couldn’t have occurred. Just imagine what law enforcement would have to deal with! They get the call to a convention or a theater where shooting is taking place …. just how are they to determine the bad from the good?

And while we’re at it, how would the people who claim they are defending themselves tell the bad guys from other good people who also believe they’re defending themselves. People who think that being armed will solve problems such as this simply aren’t thinking it through ― and, in most cases, simply aren’t thinking.

Weekly, we hear of shootings by those who should not have had access to weapons. Reasonable gun regulations might be one step on the ladder to reducing violence, especially background checks and requiring anyone who is a registered owner to notify authorities when they transfer title to a registered weapon.

While I’m on the subject of guns, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, ought to get back on his meds or resign. His ignorant, politically motivated statement that “no Supreme Court Justice will be seated without National Rifle Association approval” defies logic.

The NRA has opposed every common-sense gun regulation debated in recent years, even after listening to the stories of murder and mayhem. Those dolts whom some states send to Washington agree. Let’s put their position in perspective: NRA should signify “Not Really Assassins.”

The day the NRA gets final approval on Supreme Court nominees will be the day Donald Trump is inaugurated … and that would be NEVER.

Never to be outdone by the other, Trump and Cruz engage in name-calling, wife-demeaning comments … discussions on whether small hands mean small organs … calling each other liars. And these men are running for the office of president of the United States?

Dr. Ben Carson, who never had a kind word to say about Donald Trump, has now endorsed him and will be speaking on Trump’s behalf at the North Dakota GOP state convention. Trump berates women, the GLBT community, Mexicans, blacks, Latinos and the state of our military ― which just happens to be the best in the world. Then he talks about “making American great again.” Anyone who thinks America is not great now has been reading Trump’s book. We have a great country … but this is who and what Dr. Carson will be pimping for during his local appearance.

Kevin Cramer hasn’t had a bad thing to say about Trump and his rantings. That does not speak well of him or the state he represents.

The only hope the Republican Party has, before it implodes, is if Kasich can move up in the delegate total and pull a surprise victory. He makes those other childish candidates in his party look like the immature little people they are.

Kasich has done what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have done. He speaks from the heart about issues that matter to the American people and has stayed out of that enormous gutter that Cruz and Trump have dug for themselves.

With all of the blathering of a drunk in a bar, Trump and Cruz talk about “evil Hillary,” the one who can’t be trusted. They fail to acknowledge that she has passed every single investigation involving her tenure as secretary of State. She has fully cooperated with the investigations and has urged her former employees to do likewise. No charges have ever been brought against her in any capacity and been proven! I guess Donald Doofus forgets that he is a defendant in New York for defrauding students with his phony Trump University ― all this, but his supporters just aren’t interested in the truth.

Last week, every top-ranked Republican and their candidates said they liked Bernie Sanders and that he was truthful. I think we know why ―probably because they’d prefer him to Hillary on the presidential ballot.

Note to the GOP: If Kasich isn’t your candidate, you don’t have a well driller’s chance in hell to defeat either Sanders or Clinton. With Kasich, you might at least have a chance. (Privately, I’d say not a very good one ― but I won’t tell anyone that.)

Trump and Cruz both criticize President Obama for his trip to Cuba but also because he didn’t leave immediately when the recent Belgium attacks took place.

President Obama was absolutely correct when he said, “Terrorists do not schedule my events.” If our leaders ran for home every time something bad happened while they were on a diplomatic mission, the bad guys win for sure.

I, for one, cannot wait for the presidential election to be over. I never thought that people such as Cruz and Trump could attempt a takeover of a major party. I also didn’t believe there were so many people in this country who proudly carry racist and bigoted values. I hope when the final tally takes place that common sense prevails, and we will elect a president we can be proud of.

For those who think otherwise: America is and always has been great. Our military has not been gutted and is still the strongest in the world, with the best trained men and women alive. We do, however, need to provide for members of our military when they return from duty. Failure to provide for our veterans? You can lay that where it belongs, at the feet of the do-nothing GOP Congress.

Amen.