A fair shot at the pie
Posted: February 22, 2021 Filed under: Uncategorized 2 CommentsThis one comes from the Washington Post’s Daily 202, authored by Olivier Knox:
“As one historian of conservative movements, Rick Perlstein, told my colleague Greg Sargent, Limbaugh played a central role in ‘the rise of reactionary populism. People accustomed to being on top — culturally, socially, economically — were facing an onslaught of liberation movements that were all about giving other people a fair shot at the pie.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/18/daily-202-liz-cheney-wants-an-ideas-driven-gop-limbaugh-predicted-her-defeat/
This is a conflation of “a shot at the bigtime” (a bid to become famous or successful) and “a piece/slice of the pie” (a share or part of something). And of course, “a fair shot” (an opportunity) is part of the malaphor. The speaker may also have been craving for an apple pie or key lime shot. A big thanks to Barry Eigen for spotting the malaphor.
Malaphors 
I thought it was a conflation of “a fair shot” (equal opportunity) and “a piece of the pie” (one’s piece of that opportunity).
I included “fair shot” in my deconstruction. You are right that those two create the probable mental mixup as it creates a congruent conflation. Dave