The GOP is ridiculous, and they look it. Clownish. Buffoonified. Dumb. How can you or I or anyone else see it any other way after they have failed and failed and failed to address Obamacare?

Look, we’re in the age of plain old talk, right? We are, believe me. You ever had a labor job? Most people have. I know I have. If I was working maintenance, or construction, or even just restocking, there is a way you talk to each other while you do it. Like that. Normal. Trump has a version of plain talk that’s pretty idiosyncratic, and it’s not exactly the way we might talk over a beer, but it’s not Sunday Morning Talk Show Pretentious, either. People seem to like that.

So I’m going to reverse the flow and talk back to D.C. in the same way. I’m going to shoot straight, guys and gals. Here’s my down-home advice:

GET THE FREAKING JOB DONE ALREADY. GEEZ!!

Hell and Hoboken, it’s been years of votes. It’s been months of fails. There really can’t be any excuse anymore. Mick Mulvaney said it yesterday to Jake Tapper:

In the White House’s view, they can’t move on in the Senate. In the people’s view, they shouldn’t move on in the Senate. They should stay and work and figure out a way to solve this problem. Keep in mind, you’re talking about something they’ve promised to do for seven years. You can’t promise folks you’re going to do something for seven years, and then not do it.”

I’m going to go against type here and say that I think this is right. Be irresponsible with everything else if necessary. Don’t do anything else. As Dir. Mulvaney said, as President Trump has tweeted, do nothing but get this done. Get a healthcare bill.

You can’t promise folks you’re going to do something for seven years and then not do it! You can’t do that. You can’t.

You can’t promise folks you’re going to do something for seven years and then not do it.

We all know the reasons you have for not doing it. The tent. We hear you. You say you get the conservatives on board and the moderates are out. If you get the moderates on board, the conservatives are out. Yep, that’s a toughie. But it’s your toughie. This is your job. Do your job.

It’s not just about Obamacare anymore, or even health insurance at large. This is now about the GOP as a party. If you can’t get this done, you aren’t a political party. Not one worth having.

Obamacare is a top concern of the electorate. It was a key reason, if not the reason that so many Republicans were elected in November. Yet here we sit, watching the unbelievable circus.

Sorry, you can’t blame the Freedom Caucus. You can’t. They just want a bill that does the actual things that are the reason the voters want the bill. They want something that actually repeals Obamacare and doesn’t keep most of it alive and draining the economy. In other words, to keep the promise that was made for seven years. Not pretend to keep it. ACTUALLY keep it.

Sorry, you can’t blame the moderates. It doesn’t work that way (yet.) For now, they’re part of the GOP and they represent their constituents. They want a bill that isn’t a joke and that won’t fulfill every nightmare prediction the MSM has laid out, ensuring a Dem sweep in 2018

Sorry, you can’t even blame McCain, no matter how bad you want to. Yes, McCain wants to make a deal that will make him look good and get him some love from across the aisle and the non-Trump electorate. (And by the way that’s exactly EXACTLY the kind of selfish, self-aggrandizing, self-interest that Trumpers praise and cheer and quiver for when it comes from Trump.) But it doesn’t even matter, because he would have done it anyway so the other GOP members who wanted to vote no (and there were plenty enough) wouldn’t have to and could save face. That’s how the game works. Especially with a bad piece of legislation that will probably be a disaster.

There, those are the irreconcilable differences. So you see, Senators, it’s not like we don’t know about them. We just don’t care. I’m telling you that good reasons for disagreement will not save you. Good reasons won’t save the GOP. You 100% have to get this done.

That means you have to make deals. Do that. Cut deals. Scratch a few backs. Order gift baskets. Take someone’s shift listening to Bannon. Do what politicians do. You can’t sell the moderates and McCain on the conservative bill, and you can’t sell a watered down bill to the people. So my two cents? Make the moderates and McCain happy some other way, something other than conceding the core points.

I mean, this is where the Donald was supposed to be some big asset. Do you hear that, Mulvaney? Your boss is supposed to the one to facilitate this. That was the theory, right? Mr. Dealmaker?

via GIPHY

Do it then. President Trump, grade-school tweeting isn’t leadership. Taunting on Twitter is for teens. That’s not how casinos get built, is it? Then go do some actual work. If you can. If you’re even capable. Are you capable, Mr. President? Prove it.

Either the GOP can get this done now, next, and finally, or you are saying it’s impossible. And if it is impossible now, then … well we’re on our way to single payer and no turning back.

This is it. I’m talking plain as can be. Y’all need to pull your heads out of your rears and put them to work. You look like idiots. Get the damn thing done.

We want a bill that does everything you promised, repeals what you said it would, fixes what is broken, doesn’t kill everyone, doesn’t lose every future election to Democrats, doesn’t bankrupt us, and basically makes everything better. And if that seems like a tall order then tough s***. Because that’s what you’ve been promising for seven years. And you may have heard this mentioned before but …

You can’t promise folks you’re going to do something for seven years and then not do it!