Sharpening the bar

Alex Marquardt on CNN reported that Gov. DeSantis, a GOP presidential candidate, was “sharpening the bar” in his campaign. It was in reference to a possible DeSantis vs Newsome showdown. It left the impression that DeSantis was both sharpening his knives and raising the bar with respect to his political attacks. It is indeed a mashup of “raising the bar” (raise the standards of quality that are expected) and “sharpen the knives” (make better or improve).

A big thanks to John Davis for hearing this one and passing it on!