NEW VILLAGE VOICE COLUMN UP...

...about the disastrous debut of the American Health Care Act. It would be more encouraging to see the brethren admit what a dog this thing was if I didn't know any tweak that comes down the pike will be declared the master stroke that fixes everything. Maybe in addition to stripping lottery winners of their Medicaid they'll also test beneficiaries' DNA for evidence that they've recently eaten a T-bone steak.

UPDATE. The CBO report is out and, while most human beings are horrified that it predicts 24 million people losing coverage as a result of Trumpcare, National Review's Dan McLaughlin scoffs that CBO can't be relied on, because they said with Obamacare 201 million Americans would have private insurance, while in reality only 177 million do. Never mind that, between public and private insurance, the uninsured rate dropped to new lows -- you can't expect a conservative to applaud pauper-moochers getting a break. And anyway it doesn't matter because

The projections of who will and won’t be insured don’t actually mean anything. But the projections of deficit reduction mean a lot, whether or not they are accurate – because they give the bill the procedural green light to go forward.

And that is how the game is played in Washington.

In other words: we know just as well as you do that this is bullshit, but we're going to get away with it so fuck off and die.