Democracy is hanging by a string

This one was heard on the All In with Chris Hayes podcast, episode 241k, at 1:28:

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/all-in-with-chris-hayes/id1314170606?i=1000679274189

This is a mashup of “hanging by a thread” (something is in a dangerous state and likely to fail) and I think “have (someone) on the string” (to keep someone awaiting a decision). Threads and strings are similar so it seems logical that something would be hanging by a string, but to date it’s not an actual idiom. A big thanks to Frank King for hearing this one and sending it in!