Whataboutism and the fake ‘fair and balanced’
Sure, Trump and Musk are endangering America by their cuts to the Department of National Security, the FBI and the CIA. Sure, those cuts make it easier for the next 9/11 attack. But whatabout back when the Democrats held the WH and Congress and had the clairvoyance to foresee all this and didn’t pass any legislation to anticipate a future Trump Administration? For every GOP transgression there must be an equal and opposite Democratic Party transgression, amirite?
“It’s perfectly clear why Trump and his many enablers rely on whataboutism. It’s the easiest deflection. What is the proper response to Trump’s iniquitous treatment of women? What about Bill Clinton? How can one evaluate his pardons of the January 6th insurrectionists? What about all those who rioted in protest of George Floyd’s murder and were never prosecuted? (They were.) Was Trump’s refusal to return highly classified documents a serious breach? What about Joe Biden keeping files in his garage? (Biden returned them when asked.) Is Trump corrupting the rule of law with his pardons of friends, donors, and political allies? What about Joe Biden’s pardons of Hunter and his entire family?
“Truly depraved people don’t take that route. Trump uses whataboutism not just to change the subject or disarm the accuser (“tu quoque” was pretty much the theme of the 2016 presidential race) but also to breed cynicism. If “everybody does it” then it’s unfair to hold him accountable. And because people who constantly transgress can’t function with the knowledge that they are immoral, they must believe—and teach—that everyone is just as corrupt as they are; that the standards themselves are flawed or at least universally flouted.”
Don’t fall for this false equivalency bafflegab. Sometimes one side does it and the other doesn’t.
Whataboutism is rotting our politics
“It’s perfectly clear why Trump and his many enablers rely on whataboutism. It’s the easiest deflection. What is the proper response to Trump’s iniquitous treatment of women? What about Bill Clinton? How can one evaluate his pardons of the January 6th insurrectionists? What about all those who rioted in protest of George Floyd’s murder and were never prosecuted? (They were.) Was Trump’s refusal to return highly classified documents a serious breach? What about Joe Biden keeping files in his garage? (Biden returned them when asked.) Is Trump corrupting the rule of law with his pardons of friends, donors, and political allies? What about Joe Biden’s pardons of Hunter and his entire family?
“Truly depraved people don’t take that route. Trump uses whataboutism not just to change the subject or disarm the accuser (“tu quoque” was pretty much the theme of the 2016 presidential race) but also to breed cynicism. If “everybody does it” then it’s unfair to hold him accountable. And because people who constantly transgress can’t function with the knowledge that they are immoral, they must believe—and teach—that everyone is just as corrupt as they are; that the standards themselves are flawed or at least universally flouted.”
Don’t fall for this false equivalency bafflegab. Sometimes one side does it and the other doesn’t.
Whataboutism is rotting our politics
I think it is the same sentiment, but I would say that more basically Trump and his many enablers rely on the public’s short attention span. Since the answer to “whatabout? ” requires more than one sentence, it becomes tldr.