to collapse under rubble?

[Joel S. Berson]

"House Republicans -- who rejected an almost identical deal on
Tuesday -- collapsed under the political rubble that has accumulated
over the week, much of it from their own party, worried that the
blockade would do serious damage to their appeal to voters."

 From today;s lead article in both the New York Times and the Boston
Globe, by Jennifer Steinhauer.

I perceive something off in the metaphor of "collapse under rubble"
(not to mention the mixed metaphors of "rubble" and
"blockade").  Does one collapse under rubble, or atop it?  Presumably
Steinhauer meant something like "the House Republican's edifice
collapsed under the politically hostile weight, some from their own
party, that accumulated on top of it, burying them."

Joel

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