meat ax

The declaration hit Capitol Hill as yet another bolt from the gods — a surprise attack from a mercurial lawmaker who, to some colleagues, has randomly swung a meat ax at their policy agenda.

He’s like Willie Stark in “All the Kings’ Men” exhorting the mob that had marched on the capitol by torchlight to save him from impeachment to give him even more power: “Gimme that meat ax!”

Instead, Disney’s misconceived live-action remake of the studio’s 1992 animated classic offers the audience overstuffed musical-production numbers that look like they’ve been edited with a meat ax.

That separate agreement drives a stake into White House promises last year to take a meat ax to domestic agencies and eventually bring the budget back into the black.

Or, better yet, take a meat ax to the entire federal government.