Is there a fresher and more original way of saying ' Cut the cackle and come to the horses?'

Question

You sometimes find - or I do -that discussions about politically charged issues become focused into one particular aspect that becomes a weaponised media narrative that then sways popular opinion, whether rightly or wrongly, fairly or otherwise. I was struggling to find a way of saying that we should not get side-tracked and cut to the crux. The nearest I got to this was 'Cut out the cackle and come to the horses,' but it may be a little stale as an expression. I see that an earlier contributor raised a somewhat similar question about 'cutting to the heart' (which has different connotations) and was offered 'getting to the core' as an alternative. I am trying to say something a little different and wonder there is a fresher and more original way of doing so? This may of course be a case of spelling out what one means, rather than seeking to encapsulate it in a single phrase.

Answer 1

Cut to the chase

Wikipedia says:

"Cut to the chase" is a phrase that means to get to the point without wasting time.

Cut to the chase was a phrase used by movie studio executives to mean that the audience shouldn't get bored by the extra dialogue, and that the film should get to the interesting scenes without unnecessary delays.

This phrases signals that the political opponent should get to the crux of the matter.

Cut the crap!

This phrase is labeled offensive at Cambridge Dictionary:

a rude way of telling someone to stop saying things that are not true or not important: Just cut the crap and tell me what you really want from me.

This phrase urges the political opponent to drop his extraneous arguments.