WORDS!

1. excise tax: an internal tax levied on the manufacture, sale, or consumption of a commodity
2. trenchant obstructionism of Republicans: 1 : keen, sharp2 : vigorously effective and articulate ; also : caustic
3. undemocratic cabals: 1 : the artifices and intrigues of a group of persons secretly united in a plot (as to overturn a government); also : a group engaged in such artifices and intrigues2 : club, group
4. budgeting chicanery: 1 : deception by artful subterfuge or sophistry : trickery2 : a piece of sharp practice (as at law) : trick
5. congressional venality: 1 : capable of being bought or obtained for money or other valuable consideration : purchasable; especially : open to corrupt influence and especially bribery : mercenary 2 : originating in, characterized by, or associated with corrupt bribery
6. Pyrrhic victory: achieved at excessive cost ; also : costly to the point of negating or outweighing expected benefits
7. kleptocratic Russia: government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed; also : a particular government of this kind
8. leitmotif: 1 : an associated melodic phrase or figure that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation especially in a Wagnerian music drama 2 : a dominant recurring theme
9. joie de vivre: keen or buoyant enjoyment of life
10. confabulation: 1 : to talk informally : chat 2 : to hold a discussion : confer 3 : to fill in gaps in memory by fabrication
11. Perspicuity: plain to the understanding especially because of clarity and precision of presentation
12. Aphorism: a concise statement of a principle
13. Dunderhead: dunce, blockhead
14. Limned: to draw or paint on a surface; to outline in clear sharp detail; describe
15. Inimitable: not capable of being imitated : matchless
16. Emetic: an agent that induces vomiting
17. Perforce: by force of circumstances
18. Bedlam: a place, scene, or state of uproar and confusion
19. Rigmarole: 1) confused or meaningless talk 2) complex and sometimes ritualistic procedure
20. Punch and Judy: a traditional puppet show in which the little hook-nosed puppet Punch fights comically with his wife Judy
21. Le Mot Juste: the exactly right word or phrasing
22. Louche: not reputable or decent
23. Lothario: a man whose chief interest is seducing women
24. Milquetoast: a timid, meek, or unassertive person
25. Rheum: a watery discharge from the mucous membranes especially of the eyes or nose
26. Zeitgeist: the general intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of an era
27. Appellation: an identifying name or title
28. Beelzebub - devil. e.g. Beelzebub himself could not change her mind.
29. Aspersions: : 1) a sprinkling with water especially in religious ceremonies 2)  a false or misleading charge meant to harm someone's reputation aspersions on her integrity; the act of making such a charge : defamation "casting aspersions on the morals of the women involved."
30. Diamante: a sparkling decoration (as of sequins) or material decorated with this
31. Abrogating the new constitution: to abolish by authoritative action : annul; to treat as nonexistent
32. Jeremiad: a prolonged lamentation or complaint; also : a cautionary or angry harangue
33. Balustrade: a kind of low wall that is placed at the sides of staircases, bridges, etc., and that is made of a row of short posts topped by a long rail
34. madeleine: 1) a small rich shell-shaped cake 2) one that evokes a memory
35. oeuvre: a substantial body of work constituting the lifework of a writer, an artist, or a composer
36. detritus: 1) loose material (as rock fragments or organic particles) that results directly from disintegration 2a) a product of disintegration, destruction, or wearing away : debris 2b) miscellaneous remnants : odds and ends