Pin the blame on the donkey

A person was placed on a committee to examine and correct a problem for a project his company is working on. He thinks the committee won’t be able to solve the problem and the company is looking to be able to deflect blame from the people who caused the problem in the first place. The malaphor was uttered in that conversation.

This is a mashup of “pin the tail on the donkey” (idiomatically used to describe a chaotic or blind process where the target is unknown) and “pin the blame on (someone)” (assign responsibility for a mistake, often unfairly). Could it also be a common Republican tactic? Given the midterm election results, it could describe what the voters were thinking (donkey = ass). Props once again to Verbatim, a frequent Malaphor contributor. Thanks Verbatim!

Trump’s approval is circling the toilet

This is the headline for a USA Today opinion:

This is a congruent conflation of “circling the drain” and “going down the toilet”, both meaning to experience a rapidly worsening experience. Once again Frank King spotted this one. Bravo Frank!

They kill them like they’re candy

During a press briefing addressing the ongoing military conflict and humanitarian crisis involving Iran, Trump was asked about the actions of the Iranian regime. He used a malaphor to highlight the random, widespread slaughter of civilians and protesters by hardline authorities earlier in the year:

“Young kids. They kill ’em. They kill ’em like they’re … like they’re … uhh … candy. It’s crazy what they do. They treat them so badly. They’re just killing people at random and nobody talks about it.” https://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/kill-them-uh-candy-trump-161044395.html

This is a mashup of “killing them with kindness” (responding to someone’s hostility with politeness and warmth) and “like taking candy from a baby” (a task that is extremely easy and takes little effort). A shout out to Mike Kovacs for hearing this one and sending it in!