There was the following passage in New York Times’s (March 25) article that came under the headline, “Donald, This I will tell you,” written by Maureen Dowd:
“As The Times’s chief Washington correspondent Carl Hulse put it, the
G.O.P. falls into clover with a lock on the White House and both
houses of Congress, and what’s the first thing it does? Slip on a
banana peel. Incompetence Inc.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/25/opinion/sunday/donald-this-i-will-tell-you.html?action
What does "fall into clover with a lock" mean? Is it a well-received turn of phrase? I googled for a definition of the phrase with no avail.
Best Answer
To be in clover is to enjoy prosperous circumstances, through effort and/or luck. (I believe the writer's use of "fall" in this case emphasizes luck over effort.)
To have a lock on something is to own or control it completely. Part of the connotation is to deny (lock out) someone else's efforts to control the thing.
Here, "with a lock" is not part of the idiom "falls into clover." Rephrased: "With a lock on the White House and both houses of Congress, the G.O.P. falls into clover ..."