[bravoetch]

I think by 'joke' people mean "their actions are unreasonable to the point of ridicule, and were they less consequential would be akin to the performance of a circus clown instead of a diligent policy maker."

But the rest of us just shorten that to "joke".

[ebbi]

Thank you - exactly what I meant. I thought it was a common understanding when used in this context.

[websiteapi]

So it’s a partisan word then and basically devoid of meaning and consistency across political lines. When hasn’t the us political class been a joke by such a definition…? Perhaps when we owned slaves, or interned the Japanese?