We’re seeing them close the wagons

This one was spoken by ESPN’s Michele Steele on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.  She was discussing the horse racing drug scandal involving the Kentucky Derby winner, Justify.  Here’s the transcript: https://www.npr.org/2019/09/14/760780871/saturday-sports-horse-racing-antonio-brown.

This is a nice congruent conflation of “closing ranks” and “circling the wagons”, both meaning to become defensive.  A big thanks to Martin Pietrucha for hearing this one and striking malaphor gold! @ESPNMichele