"Going to hell in a handbasket '', "going to hell in a handcart '', "going to hell in a handbag '', "go to hell in a bucket '', "sending something to hell in a handbasket '' and "something being like hell in a handbasket '' are variations on an American allegorical locution of unclear origin, which describes a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately.
what does it mean to go to hell in a handbasket
a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately