wheel and deal

1. Operate or manipulate for one's own interest, especially in an aggressive or unscrupulous way. For example, Bernie's wheeling and dealing has made him rich but not very popular. This term comes from gambling in the American West, where a wheeler-dealer was a heavy bettor on the roulette wheel and at cards. [Colloquial; c. 1940]

Example Sentences

That means Snead — who famously uttered “F them picks” after building a Super Bowl championship team in 2021 — will have plenty of draft capital to wheel and deal with for a prospect or an established player.

From Los Angeles Times

This was the new “New York”; not just as far as the series was concerned, but in terms of the figures who wheel and deal within the city itself.

From Salon

“But he can wheel and deal and fix things. I felt secure in my country when he was president. With Biden and Harris, I watched the world implode. Prices have gone sky high.”

From Los Angeles Times

President Biden was willing to wheel and deal with some of America’s intractable adversaries, including nuclear talks with the mullahs in Iran, an immigration agreement with the Maduro government in Venezuela and prisoner swaps with Venezuela and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

From Washington Times

Although the ads paint Mr. Maduro, who has been Venezuela’s president since 2013, as an authoritarian strongman, Mr. Biden was willing to wheel and deal with him in October.

From Washington Times