play the - card exploit the specified issue or idea mentioned, especially for political advantage.

☞ In modern usage the phrase is most commonly deployed as play the race card, with reference to race relations, but it is first recorded in the remark of Lord Randolph Churchill (1886) that, concerning Irish Home Rule, 'the Orange card would be the one to play'.

2018Mel SherrattHush Hush Her shoulders drooped again, thinking of her daughter, and her granddaughter. It wasn't entirely Jade's fault, but she did play the victim card far too often.