Peace talks as a card game: What can metaphor researchers do?

Steen, Gerard J.

doi:10.1075/msw.25010.ste

Article published In: Metaphor and the Social World
Vol. 16:1 (2026) ► pp.172–178

Get fulltext from our e-platform

Download PDF

Download EPUB

Forum article

Peace talks as a card game

What can metaphor researchers do?

Gerard J. Steen | University of Amsterdam

Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Amsterdam.

Published online: 19 May 2025

https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.25010.ste

Abstract

This contribution offers an analysis of the role of the card game metaphor used by President Trump in his fiery exchange with President Zelensky during their meeting in the White House to discuss the possibility of peace talks for the war in Ukraine. It aims to show what metaphor researchers can contribute to the public understanding of this meeting.

Keywords: ambiguity, deliberate metaphor, intention, resistance, reference

References (10)

References

Bateman, T., and Debusmann, Jr., B. (2025, March 1.). How the Trump-Zelensky Talks Collapsed in 10 Fiery Minutes. [URL]

Finsen, A. B., Steen, G. J., and J. Wagemans. (2021). How do scientists criticize the computer metaphor of the brain? Using an argumentative pattern for reconstructing resistance to metaphor. Journal of Argumentation in Context 10(2), 171–201.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Penguin.

Kövecses, Z. (2002). Metaphor: A Practical Introduction. Oxford: OUP.

Rathi, A., and Lu, C. 2025, February 28. Read Trump and Zelensky’s Fiery Oval Office Exchange. [URL])

Renardel de Lavalette, K., Andone, C., and G. J. Steen. (2019). Figurative analogies and how they are resisted in British Public Bill Committee debates. Metaphor and the Social World 9(1), 107–130.

Steen, G. J. (2023). Slowing metaphor down: Elaborating Deliberate Metaphor Theory. John Benjamins.

(2024). The ambiguity of metaphor: How polysemy affords multivalent metaphor use and explains the paradox of metaphor. Metaphor and Symbol, 39(4), 242–259.

Van Poppel, L., & Pilgram, R. (2023). Types of resistance to metaphor. Metaphor and Symbol, 38(4), 311–328.

Wackers, D., Plug, H. J., and G. J. Steen. (2021). “For crying out loud, don’t call me a warrior” Standpoints of resistance against violence metaphors for cancer. Journal of Pragmatics, 1741, 68–77.