Pouring Gasoline On Our Existing Ones?

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Does "pouring gasoline on our existing ones" mean "adding insults to injuries"?


The New York Times

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Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district has been ravaged by the coronavirus. She says it underlines her case for more health care and higher wages. “This crisis is not really creating new problems. It’s pouring gasoline on our existing ones.”

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The original idiom is "pour gas/gasoline on the fire".

It means to inflame an already tense condition or situation.

"ones" refers to "problems" in that sentence.

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Is "pouring gasoline on our existing ones" as idiomatic in English as "pouring gasoline on fire"?

No, the writer has changed the idiom to fit their context. We cannot freely use that as a fixed idiomatic expression in other contexts, as "existing ones" has a reference in that sentence.

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