Beating GOP rebel with a big stick! (9)
I believe the answer is:
bargepole
'big stick' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'beating gop rebel with a' is the wordplay.
'beating' indicates anagramming the letters.
'with' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'gop'+'rebel'='goprebel'
'goprebel' is an anagram of 'brgepole'.
'brgepole' placed around 'a' is 'BARGEPOLE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bargepole that I've seen before include "Boatman's equipment (not to be used for touching it!)" , "Propeller" , "Long stick for fending off obstacles" , "stick for propelling vessel" .)