What does plays to his base mean?

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kika988

25 Nov 2020

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English (US)

@Christine0724 Not quite -- "playing to his base" is more commonly used when it's something he's actively choosing to do because his fans/followers would like it. Someone else's failure wouldn't quite fit there. So something more like: "He played to his base by going with a modern art style. As a result, he got awarded the best artist of the year."

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kika988

25 Nov 2020

English (US)

His "base" in this context is his supporters, so "plays to his base" means "appeals to his supporters"

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ZerowO

25 Nov 2020

English (US)

it means one person's action helps another person. Here, what China does, actually helps Donald Trump.
Example, The injury of the star player in the baseball team played to the other teams base.

Played to ( person / group ) base

I have not encountered this type of structure, so I could be wrong.

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Keqing

25 Nov 2020

Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)

@ZerowO Thanks so much :) So I suppose I can say like this, “The company’s failure actually played to its opponent’s base, which became the largest private sector later on.”?

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Keqing

25 Nov 2020

Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)

@kika988 So I can say “The failure of her work played to his base. As a result, he got awarded the best artist of the year.”?

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kika988

25 Nov 2020

English (US)

@Christine0724 Not quite -- "playing to his base" is more commonly used when it's something he's actively choosing to do because his fans/followers would like it. Someone else's failure wouldn't quite fit there. So something more like: "He played to his base by going with a modern art style. As a result, he got awarded the best artist of the year."

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ZerowO

25 Nov 2020

English (US)

@Christine0724 Exactly! That is correct!

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Keqing

25 Nov 2020

Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)

@kika988 Thanks again :) So it’s more like doing something to please someone who is supporting you. Like “The singer played to her base by singing her debut song. As a result, she earned $100 millions that night.”?

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