Former Republican National Committee head Michael Steele said this one on the MSNBC show, Deadline: White House, when discussing Trump firing people in his Administration.  This is a mashup of “clean house” (to rid an organization of the people seen as troublesome) and “clear the decks” (prepare for action or to flee hastily).  Both expressions involve eliminating people or things.  Also the words “clean” and “clear” are similar in sound.  Perehaps the speaker was thinking of cleaning his deck, a yearly spring cleaning task.  A tip of the hat to Frank King, the Mental Health Comedian, for hearing this one and passing it on.

You may want to clean the deck of your reading backlog to make way for my new, soon to be released second malaphor book, “Things are Not Rosy-Dory”, devoted to mashups uttered by politicians and political pundits (like Michael Steele).  Look for it on Amazon soon!  Meanwhile, you can grab a copy of my first malaphor book, “He Smokes Like a Fish and other Malaphors”, available on Amazon here:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/0692652205