We are being held at an arm’s pace

This great mashup was uttered on the Morning Joe show by Dr. Rick Bright, the immunologist who is now part of the Biden coronavirus task force. He was talking about the Trump administration’s refusal to work with the Biden task force. It is a conflation of “at arm’s length” (a person or organization purposely not connected so as not to influence one another) and “at a snail’s pace” (very slowly). This malaphor really describes the speaker’s meaning as it conveys the Trump administration not only moving slowly but not conveying any information. A big thanks to Sam Edelmann for hearing this one and passing it on!