whoever pulls that

[Ostap]

President Biden said yesterday that Russian president Vladimir Putin should face a war crimes trial for his recent actions in Ukraine. Good luck to whoever pulls that in jury duty. "Is there any reason why you shouldn't be selected for this case?" "Um, I got a wife and kids."
link with timecode Late Night with Seth Meyers

Does "pull" here mean "try to convict him on war-crime charges"? And especially, this meaning of "pull" is "to do/perform"?

 

[emsr2d2]

No, it means "Good luck to anyone who is selected for jury duty at Putin's trial".

 

[Ostap]

No, it means "Good luck to anyone who is selected for jury duty at Putin's trial".

And is the dictionary meaning of "pull" that is used here the one I indicated -- "to do/perform (something)?

 

[emsr2d2]

No. It's "is selected for".

 

[Ostap]

No. It's "is selected for".

What I meant was this meaning:

pull - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.wiktionary.org

(transitive, informal) To do or perform.
He regularly pulls 12-hour days, sometimes 14.
You'll be sent home if you pull another stunt like that.

If in the OP "pull" means "selected for", then pulls what? ("Good luck to whoever pulls that in jury duty.") What does "that" stand for?

 

[Tarheel]

Putin's case.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, I know what definition you were talking about. However, I was trying to explain that the meaning of "pull" in the context of the original is "is selected for". I suppose you could say that it means "whoever does jury duty" but I don't find the collocation of "do" with "jury duty" very natural.

 

[Ostap]

Am I right that the analogy is pulling the short match like in the picture?

 

[emsr2d2]

I've never really considered that. I suppose it could be connected with "pulling the short straw" (the usual phrase, rather than the one with matches).

 

[jutfrank]

View attachment 4579
Am I right that the analogy is pulling the short match like in the picture?

Yes, I think that's basically right. The basic idea is selection.