All the cards are in the air
Posted: April 10, 2026 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: expressions, Heather Cox Richardson, humor, language, malaphors, mixed idioms, Trump, words 1 CommentIn a Heather Cox Richardson YouTube video entitled “America’s Reputation and Recent Administration Firings”, Ms. Richardson discusses the many issues the Trump administation has created and is facing and says “all the cards are in the air”. You can hear this at approx 11:28 of the video:
This is a conflation of “keep balls in the air” (deal with many different things at the same time) and “put one’s cards on the table” (be completely honest about one’s intentions). “Up in the air” (unresolved) is probably also in the mix given the context. A big shout out to Mike Kovacs for spotting this one and sending it in!

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