Trump has challenged President Obama to a vocabulary contest over Trumpcare.

Trump appeared on the Fox News Trump Infomercial, Fox and Friends, Sunday morning and claimed that Obama was playing fast and loose with the thesaurus while describing the healthcare bill.

“Well he actually used my term, ‘mean.’ That was my term,” Trump said. “Because I want to see — and I speak from the heart — that’s what I want to see, I want to see a bill with heart.”

Uh, well at least Obama isn’t playing fast and loose with the calendar.

Last Wednesday, Sean Spicer claimed that Trump’s use of the word “mean” was only rumor and speculation.  Trump didn’t confirm he used “mean” to describe the bill until this Sunday interview on Fox and Friends.

Obama did not use the word “mean.”  He used 939 words, 54 of which say …

Simply put, if there’s a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family – this bill will do you harm. And small tweaks over the course of the next couple weeks, under the guise of making these bills easier to stomach, cannot change the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation.

That was on Thursday.

I think it’s highly improbable that President Obama steals words from Donald Trump and until I hear President Obama say “bigly” I will continue to believe that.

The New York Times is keeping count of Trump’s lies.

Somebody remind me – in counting, is a gazillion or a trizillion bigger?  This keeping count thing is gonna get tough.

Thanks to everybody for the heads up.

So Trump sends his 35 year old golden boy, with no experience in government and no experience in diplomacy to make peace in the Middle East by telling Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas what Israel wants them to do.

London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported Saturday that the meeting between Kushner and Abbas had been “tense.” Abbas was allegedly furious when Kushner relayed a set of demands from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a translation of the report by the Jerusalem Post.

Tense?  Yeah well, tense means a little worried.  Honey, this was piano wire tense.  You hit this tense and it’s gonna squeal.

I could be wrong but I think the Palestinians have previously turned down the offer of doing whatever Israel tells them do, so maybe that wasn’t a stellar starting point.

Kushner is also is charge of reforming the veteran’s administration and the criminal justice system, diplomacy in the middle east and Mexico, reinventing government, and stopping the opioid epidemic.  I hope none of these things have anything at all to do with your life or you are sooooo screwed.

Thanks to Tony for the heads up.

Okay, if an effort to look really, really popular, there is going to be a World’s Most Dangerous Beauty Salon Meet-Up in Denver, Colorado.

Eat your heart out, Howard Dean.

If you are interested in the particulars – time, date, place, will autographed pictures be available – please contact Judith at woodhallbox@cs.com

I suspect that cussing will be left a medium well setting.

Interesting posts on my Facebook feed this morning.  There are articles one after the other about how BOTH major political parties are on the ropes.  I give you the headlines:

‘Trump is What Happens When a Political Party Abandons Ideas’ – Politico

and right after it –

Sen. Bernie Sanders – “Democratic Brand is Pretty Bad” – CNN

In recent days, talkers from both sides have been bemoaning the condition of their own parties.  Some are going after their party leaders; some are blaming everyone from the Russians to their political rivals.  For the first time in over a decade, Nancy Pelosi’s job is in jeopardy.  After the Dems were skunked in the recent special elections, younger Dems are publicly talking about new party leadership in the House. Republican senators are openly refusing to support Mitch McConnell’s plan to destroy the US healthcare system.  The only oddity that continues is that the Republicans remain terrified of Trump and his Twitter fingers.

Are we finally reaching a crossroads in political party life?  Deep inside, the Repubs certainly recognize the smoldering ruin of their party after Trumpzilla rampaged through in 2016.  But it’s worse than that – to cling to power, the GOP has abandoned common decency and common sense, appealing to the worst instincts of the ignorant base.  That’s their problem.

The problem on the Dem side is more subtle.  Party leadership is fossilized.  It’s not adapted to the new normal.  Although the vast majority of creative thinkers and visualizers are Democrats, the party has remarkably failed to engage them in dragging the party out of the 1990’s.  The Dems don’t stand for anything – not to say they don’t have the interests of workers, families, and the disadvantaged – they can’t articulate it.  That was Hillary’s well documented problem…she couldn’t connect on that level.  Senate and House leadership now has the same problem.  While the GOP is in smoldering ruins, instead of taking advantage of that weakness, the Dems are arranging furniture and counting noses – no one is leading.

Maybe the voices of the younger generation will get loud enough for the geriatric leadership of both parties to get the message and get out of the way.  Can you imagine what America would be if we had youthful enthusiasm involved?  Can you imagine if political leadership was 50/50 men to women, inclusive of all faiths and ethnicities?

We’re a long way from that, but I can still dream.