Meaning of play politics in English:
play politics
phrase
Act for political or personal gain rather than from principle.
‘he railed against them for playing politics with the police department’
- ‘‘They ought to get on with running the council rather than playing politics with what is happening in the Lib Dem group,’ he said.’
- ‘But then, that would require the First Minister to show some enterprise rather than just play politics.’
- ‘They would rather earn wages than play politics with pointless strikes.’
- ‘Through this period, any of the political parties could have played politics with immigration policies.’
- ‘As usual, the Opposition is prepared only to play politics, rather than support the solution the community wants.’
- ‘Is the premier naive enough to think that American state governments are going to ignore the needs of their people while he plays politics?’
- ‘Union activists insist that such ministers are simply playing politics with people's lives, but government insiders are preparing to dig in.’
- ‘So I don't know if he's just playing politics as other people have claimed.’
- ‘A number of innocent lives have already been lost because of this cowardly and dastardly act, yet some people continue to play politics.’
- ‘Let's try to understand, it is very hard for political people like yourself or like me not to play politics with an issue.’