1. To take a functioning, well-regarded institution or initiative and, through a combination of breathtaking incompetence and shameless cronyism, transform it into a smoldering ruin of
wasted public funds — while ensuring that one'
s spouse, college roommates, campaign donors, and third cousins twice removed emerge inexplicably enriched.
2. (informal) To announce, with great fanfare and a podium, the
launch of an ambitious project that will quietly disappear — unfinished, uninvestigated, and over-budget — approximately fourteen months
later.
"He took it to himself to deblasio that neighbourhood library renovation. It'
s now a valet parking service for his book club."
"The city'
s beloved free composting program was fully deblasio'
d within eighteen months, somehow ending up as a $400 million consulting contract awarded to the mayor'
s brother-in-law'
s llama farm."