During the Republican primary, I was perplexed by how many conservatives held Marco Rubio (aka “Little Marco”) in such high esteem. My take on Little Marco from day one was that he was a snake in the grass and that his clumsy attempt to collude with Ted Cruz to derail the Trump Train pretty much confirmed that.

The South Carolina crowd went all out for Rubio in the primary, with Trey Gowdy, Tim Scott, and Nikki Haley all endorsing him. For personal reasons, I won’t comment on Gowdy or Scott, but Haley is the worst of the worst — every bit as phony as Rubio.

It was stunning when she took a swipe at Trump for his stern stances — stances that echoed the sentiments of millions of Americans who voted for him — then almost immediately started to walk back her holier-than-thou comments when the anti-Haley social-media frenzy began.

At the time, I’m sure she was totally confident that Trump had no chance of winning the Republican nomination, let alone the presidency. DT easily could have destroyed her (He won the South Carolina primary despite her efforts to undermine him), but she lucked out because of his shrewd pragmatism.

By shrewd pragmatism, I’m referring to his clever decision to get her off his back throughout his presidency by throwing her a bone and making her U.S. Ambassador to the UN. In addition, from an optics standpoint, it was a twofer — a female and the daughter of Indian immigrants. (That’s Indian as in India, not Indian as in Elizabeth Wacko Warren.)

It also was shrewd because Trump is smart enough to realize that a UN ambassador is pretty much irrelevant, but, again, the optics are impressive. Best of all, you can be certain that Haley, who, like Rubio, is for sale to the highest bidder, is now over the moon with excitement. So everyone has ended up happy.

Except for Little Marco, that is. When Trump got through swatting him like a pesky fly during the Republican primaries — trouncing him even in his home state of Florida — Marco said he was not going to run again for his Senate seat in the sunshine state. Like his opportunistic pal Nikki Haley, however, he quickly realized that to have a chance to achieve his dream of someday becoming president, it would be best for him to stay in the spotlight by being a United States senator.

So he ran, won, and is now back in Washington spreading his snotty little attitude around the Capitol Building. Little Marco is the ultimate politician, a kid who, through sheer self-discipline, has risen to unprecedented heights of insincerity.

Which brings me to his little back-and-forth with uber-impressive Rex Tillerson. Even I was surprised to watch Little Marco come at Tillerson in a style the Dirty Dems must have loved. It was a surreal scene — this 20-year-old-looking kid talking in an admonishing tone to one of the world’s most successful businessmen.

At one point, he asked Tillerson if he believed Vladimir Putin was a “war criminal.” What a dumb-ass question. I kept having the feeling that Tillerson was going to get up, turn Little Marco over his knee, and spank him. Down the road a bit, that’s surely what I suspect Donald Trump will have to do — especially if Rubio gets in the way of his agenda, starting with his cabinet appointees.

In fact, Trump may have to do it sooner rather than later if Little Marco teams up with those vile old buzzards whom Arizonians and South Carolinians keep inexplicably voting back into office — Mush McCain and Gomer Graham. These three guys are desperate to stay relevant, so look for them to give the Dirty Dems the majority they failed to win on their own by voting along with them. These guys will do almost anything to prevent Trump from looking good in the eyes of the voters.

As much as I disliked Little Marco during the primaries, I thought it was inevitable that he eventually would become president because he has so many years ahead of him in which to pull the wool over the public’s eyes. But that was before DT came along and turned the world of politics upside down. With this in mind, if I were his advisor, I’d urge him to tread lightly, find a way to suppress his delusions of grandeur, put a smile on his face, and be respectful to the heavyweights in the game.

What I’m saying, Little Marco, is that the only chance you now have of achieving your dream of becoming president is to play ball with the new sheriff in town. Perhaps you’re just a slow learner, because you should have figured out that it’s unwise to screw with Donald Trump when he nearly ended your political career during the primaries.

In any event, speaking for myself, I sure wouldn’t want to get Rex Tillerson mad at me. The guy is the reincarnation of James Arness. Best you take a deep breath, Little Marco, and calm down. You’re trying too hard to look tough, and you’re embarrassing yourself — again.