the lunatics have taken over the asylum

the lunatics have taken over the asylum

The people least capable of running a group or organization are now in charge. Said especially when the result is total chaos or calamity. With the primary schools giving their young students complete control over the curriculum, it seems as though the lunatics have taken over the asylum. After the recent election, a new wave of political extremists have taken power in Congress. It looks like the lunatics have taken over the asylum.
See also: asylum, have, lunatic, over, taken
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

lunatics have taken over the asylum, the

The individuals who should be overseen or regulated are running the show. The term appears to have been first used in 1919, when the four most powerful figures in the American film industry—Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, and D.W. Griffith—decided to found their own distribution company, called United Artists. In response the producer Richard Rowland remarked, “The lunatics have taken over the asylum.” The remark got wide publicity and entered the language, subsequently applied to many other situations of a comparable nature and becoming a cliché. In 1981 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer absorbed United Artists but retained the name, but in 2004 Sony Corporation agreed to buy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and the future of United Artists was in doubt.
See also: have, lunatic, over, taken
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • asylum
  • inmate
  • lunatics have taken over the asylum, the
  • the inmates are running the asylum
  • the inmates have taken over the asylum
  • the lunatics are running the asylum
  • able to cut
  • able to cut it
  • able to cut something
  • not know if (one) is coming or going
References in periodicals archive
The lunatics have taken over the asylum and Scotland will not be hauled along in their wake.
The lunatics have taken over the asylum
You know the lunatics have taken over the asylum when a Cabinet minister forced to resign over a dodgy expenses claim is back in business as chairwoman of a nice little publicity bandwagon called the Women and Equalities Select Committee.
ON THE GRAVY TRANS
If it is correct, the lunatics have taken over the asylum. What right do a group of hardliners think they have to deprive the vast majority of two hours of harmless, fictional enjoyment?
This is crazy!
THE lunatics have taken over the asylum. As farming is to blame for 25 per cent of Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions, can we expect to see a green tax on farm animals for passing wind into the environment and a green tax on milk at the point of retail?
Letter: Your view - Gas gripe
It seems that the lunatics have taken over the asylum; a lot of jobsworths who have nothing better to do than sit down and try to be politically correct.
Letter: Respect culture
IT'S official, the lunatics have taken over the asylum.
IRISH DAILY Mirror: Thugs have more rights than victims; COMMENT
THE lunatics have taken over the asylum where football is concerned.
Patsy: Talk about being taken for a ride.
Wogan, 68, said: "The lunatics have taken over the asylum. The culture now is that the presenter calls the financial and, increasingly, the creative shots." He added: "The BBC is often giving huge quantities to people who would prefer to work for the corporation anyway."
WOGAN TELS 'EM; pounds 800k-a-year Beeb veteran slams stars' salaries
Inspector Glen Smyth, chairman of the police federation, said: ``It is as if the lunatics have taken over the asylum.''
Samurai attack `madman' released