Here we are again. Two seventy-something adults are bickering back and forth on Twitter. One is a singer/actress and one is the leader of the free world. Both are New Yorkers and both have more than a million followers on Twitter. Send the kids to another room – Bette Midler and President Trump are tweeting to each other.

Bette Midler is no newcomer to poking at Trump using her Twitter account. She’s been doing it since 2012. Last week a new battle began when Midler re-tweeted a quote credited to President Trump that has been debunked. As you would expect, the president responded and ended up calling Midler a “washed up psycho.” Gauntlet dropped, Midler picked it up and ran with it. She described the back and forth as her “personal Battle with the Bulge.” Lots of followers came to her defense and she thanked them.

Midler, who has won Emmy, Grammy and Tony awards, was in the throes of her latest Trump tirade on Monday when she erroneously tweeted a fabricated quote attributed to the billionaire.

You know, the line in which he allegedly claimed that if he were to ever run for president, he would do so as a Republican because “they’re the dumbest group of voters in the country.” (Her original tweet has since been removed.)

I want to thank everyone who came to my defense last night during my personal Battle of the Bulge with he who must not be named. Your wit and good nature really lifted my spirits; as a newly washed up psycho, I am very grateful for your thoughts and prayers.

— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) June 5, 2019

Midler says she believed the bogus tweet because “it sounds SO much like him”. Maybe but it could have easily been one of her tweets, too. She is not a fan of conservatives.

In the days since, the discourse hasn’t gotten any better. It sounds worse than in 2012, as her blasts to Trump seemed mild back then in comparison. In 2012 she tweeted about cutting his hair and strapping him to the hood of a car.

Back in 2012, before Trump formally entered the political arena, Midler dubbed the New York real estate developer the “architect of the ruination of the West Side” on Twitter and said he “deserves to be held down and his hair cut off, or strapped to the roof of the car!”

That criticism didn’t go unnoticed and Trump hit back, tweeting barbs about Midler’s looks (“an extremely unattractive woman”), his own political correctness and double standards.

The president’s big Fourth of July celebration set her off. Her Twitter feed shows plenty of tweets mocking his speech – particularly when he had difficulty due to a malfunctioning Teleprompter.

If you find yourself in D.C. this weekend, please visit the Hall of Remembrance, Dulles Airport Museum.  A moment of silence for all those that gave up so much.  ##RevolutionaryWarAirportStories pic.twitter.com/1rFYsNbxpy

— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 5, 2019

#TrumpSpeechFail Trump says he messed up his 4th of July speech because the Teleprompter went kaput & “That’s not a good feeling.” Still, probably no worse than being sexually assaulted by a low IQ tub of goo.

— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 6, 2019

Then Midler dragged Melania Trump into it. By July 6 she was trashing the First Lady’s dress. Considering some of Midler’s professional get-ups, that took some chutzpah.

Dear @realDonaldTrump, The 4th of July fireworks I paid for delighted everyone but you! I guess you’re only delighted by other despots and casual cruelty to small creatures like children… BTW, Melanie looked fabulous in her Mexican folklore dress! xoBette #BeBest #BeBette pic.twitter.com/OwwI6qvmch

— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 6, 2019

The dress is one made by Venezulean born fashion designer Carolina Herrera, a naturalized U.S. citizen. Perhaps Midler thought it clever to call the dress a Mexican folk dress. Others questioned if it was a nod to gay pride since it was a white dress with rainbow stripes, not the traditional red, white, and blue. The New York Times went so far as to call her choice of dress a defiant statement against her husband’s anti-LGBTQ agenda. Trump is the most gay-friendly Republican president to date, but reality doesn’t matter against a liberal narrative to slam all Republicans as anti-LGBTQ.

Because Mrs. Trump does not work with designers to create her public-facing looks but rather buys them (a rarity these days among public figures, and a good thing), they rarely know when she is going to wear one of their products, or why — or so Wes Gordon, the creative director of Herrera, told me after Mrs. Trump had worn a dress from the brand during her recent trip to Japan. As a result, the labels themselves can’t shed much light on whether there is ever a more nuanced rationale behind Mrs. Trump’s choices than simply love of a pretty summer frock. (The Herrera dress in question this time was from the resort 2019 collection, and was on sale for $1,884 on FarFetch.com.)

But you would have had to live under a rock for the past month not to have been met, pretty much everywhere you turned, with rainbow-stripe paraphernalia created in support of Pride Month and the L.G.B.T.Q. community. Even the president’s campaign shop has been selling rainbow-stripe T-shirts. The symbolism could not have escaped the first lady’s office, or her stylist, Hervé Pierre.

On July 7 Midler weighed in on the kerfuffle over leaked memos from the U.K. ambassador to the United States.

Dear @realDonaldTrump, As a friend who has been traveling the globe for over 50 years, don't be fooled by the ever so polite British folks.  America called you an inept shitgibbon first!  USA! USA! USA! xoBette #BeBette https://t.co/NB2XLNhCjD

— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 7, 2019

And she tweeted on the Jeffrey Epstein arrest. Like the rest of the NeverTrump crowd, she is waiting for Trump to be dragged into the current case against Epstein.

That's Trump, all right. #GrowUpAmerica https://t.co/hoSTqB4Xl5

— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) July 8, 2019

Maybe someone should check in on Ms. Midler and make sure she’s ok. Some days all she tweets about is Trump. Maybe a nice walk outside or a yoga session would help her. It’s going to be a long five more years for her.