No cards to play...

ChatGPT generated.

Trump about Ukraine during a meeting with U.S. governors:

"They don't have any cards, but they play it tough... We're not going to let this continue."

Trump on February 28, 2025, during exchange in the Oval Office:

"You have to be thankful. You don't have the cards. You are buried there. People are dying. You are running low on soldiers..."

"You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now."

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There's a strong historical parallel between Ukraine’s position today and the American colonies' situation in 1774. Like Ukraine, the American colonies were up against a vastly more powerful empire—the British—without equal military might or formal leverage. The British did, in fact, use similar dismissive rhetoric toward the colonists.

In 1774, just before the American Revolutionary War broke out, many in Britain viewed the colonies as rebellious dependents who lacked the military, economic, or diplomatic strength to stand on their own. British leaders often underestimated colonial resolve. Lord North, the British Prime Minister, and even King George III viewed the colonial resistance as a temporary nuisance, not a serious geopolitical threat. The general British sentiment was that the colonies lacked "cards to play"—in modern terms, they were seen as having little leverage or chance of success without British protection.

In an anonymous satirical letter published in the Public Advertiser on April 5, 1774, the author mockingly proposed a plan to subjugate the American colonies through military rule, reflecting a dismissive attitude toward their capabilities:

"Let all the Colonists be enrolled in the Militia, subject of course to Martial Law. Appoint a certain Number of Officers from among the conquered People... Let no other Courts be allowed through the whole Continent but Courts Martial... I humbly propose that the General and Commander in Chief be vested with the Power, and called by the Name of the King's Viceroy of all North America."

However, like Ukraine, the American colonists did not see themselves as playing a game of leverage—they saw themselves as fighting for self-determination. And just as Ukraine appeals to allies today, the colonies sought French support in 1778, which dramatically shifted the power dynamics of the war.

History shows that underdog nations have been underestimated before, and language dismissing their chances has often aged poorly.