It’s time for the GOP, both nationally and in North Dakota, to invest in some funding and common sense so that they can get their elevator out of the basement in a 10-story building.

Der Fuhrer Trump once again showed his detachment from common sense when he released the names and photos of his nine financial advisers. All of them are white men, including three named Steve. No minority inclusion. No females. Wow, isn’t that the way to open the party to everyone! Isn’t that the way to infuse confidence in both women and minorities that they count!

At this point, I can’t figure out who’s dumber — the people who nominated Trump; the people who voted for Trump; or, last but not least, the people who advise him.

If you saw the movie “RoboCop,” you’ll recall his (or its) deep, authoritative voice. Now, listen to Donny Trump’s endorsement of Paul Ryan, John McCain and Kelly Ayotte. If you didn’t see that news story, you must find it on Facebook or the national news. Doesn’t he remind you of that RoboCop?

You can tell when Trump is speaking off the cuff because of all the stupid things he says and then has to walk back. But for these unwilling recommendations, he looked straight into the camera and read his “endorsements” — if you can call them that —  like a cadaver wired with sound. The words coming out of his mouth did not match the look on his face. You could see he was choking on the script, which for once he actually stuck to.

The problem with this candidate is that having nominated him, the GOP has demonstrated it thinks the electorate is dumber than a box of rocks. How could the GOP have thought that, in just a few weeks, it could potty train a man who has used people like toilet paper his entire life?

Wow, his daughters say he’s wonderful to work with. What work? His sons call him a great man who even taught them the value of hard work (and how to kill big game animals).

This man says he wants to make America great and put our people back to work — while he has his shirts made in one country, his ties made in another country and his hats in a third country. God only knows who makes his underwear.

Without the mental filtering of a 3-year0-old, he volunteered that he gave the people in those countries an income that they wouldn’t have at all without him. Translation: Cheap overseas labor overseas “trumps” the decent wages he’d have to pay in this country. For Trump, that is good economics. For our country, it stinks.

When the top men and women in our national security agencies announce that Hillary Clinton is qualified to be commander in chief, but Donald Trump is not, the American public should pay close attention.

Yet the media continue to play up the same old propaganda about Bad Hillary — stories that have no real facts. Accusations do not count. The professionals who have worked with her, from both Republican and Democratic administrations, commend her for her work ethic, honesty and ability to get the job done — the job, that is, of protecting America, not the United States of Trump.

I sincerely have looked for a positive thing to say about Trump. Quite honestly, he fails at every level.

He still insults Sen. McCain for being captured as a prisoner of war. He still says our military is in shambles. And don’t forget, he insisted he saw a planeload of money being unloaded in Iran — until he didn’t see it. He still demeans women. I could go on and on. The bottom line is the man is incapable of admitting he said or did something wrong.

Remember his admiration for Saddam Hussein and his worship of Russia’s Putin?

Trump’s ego is so large, and his ability to think outside of his comfort zone so small, that he doesn’t realize what our foreign relations experts are saying.

It has been reported that Putin is playing Trump like a fiddle. He knows from his own KGB training that if you say nice things about the Donald, he will respond in kind. Same with NATO; Trump wants to make a deal to honor our commitments. The man doesn’t know that when you have a commitment, you honor it … and it’s not just another “deal.”

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Believe it or not, some claim that North Dakota has a Republican, Democratic and two other parties. Don’t tell that to Al Carlson and Jack Dalrymple. They know there’s only one.

A special session is called, but the Democrats aren’t allowed in the planning room. The majority presents the plan as it’s written and vote, of course, bypassing the Dem minority altogether. Not only were the Democrats and their own proposals ignored, but the Trump-supporting clones followed the big man’s lead and cut funding to those who can afford it the least.

Bill Guy, George Sinner and Art Link were governors of, by and for the people. You can bet your stock in the air in my backyard that in their day, a lot more thought would have been given to the budget, before and after that special session.

A 10-year-old could have sat down and ordered that across-the-board cut in every department. On the other hand, a thinking person — one who might not be independently wealthy — just might say, “I want all departments to show where cuts can be made.” Certain departments would not be available for cuts and would, in fact, scream for essential increases.

Health care, in particular, took a slamming in the budget passed by the special session. The withholding of promised and essential funds for Robinson Recovery in Fargo is absolutely unconscionable.

Our single-voice Legislature bragged about its wise investments all the while it spent faster than the income it relied upon. When the jig was up, instead of addressing the issues, it actually slammed the Democrats for showboating.

It appears the North Dakota GOP’s elevator not only doesn’t go up to the top; it needs some work right where it is, stuck in the basement. In no sense am I trying to be humorous here. What recently happened in Bismarck does not pass the smell test.

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Speaking of smell: A certain columnist and blogger for The Forum apparently is obsessed with Joel Heitkamp of KFGO Radio and his sister, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. Joel has the No. 1 talk show in the state. Heidi is North Dakota’s only thinking senator. When the two combine their talents on Joel’s morning his talk show, it is the best in information and in entertainment.

I very much like and supPORT both of them. I hope that writer can manage to do a balancing act and see if he can’t just find something nice to say about each of them.

No matter how you cut it, she is our senator, and he is No. 1.

That’s a fact, not a paid commercial. I wish it was. I could use the income. Amen.