No. 19 Rhetorical trick

Whataboutism

Deflect criticism by pointing at someone else's unrelated wrongdoing.

FIG. 19a, the point put. b, the record it concerns. c, the reply. d, the record raised instead.

Illustrative example

"Our factory's safety record is poor." "Well, what about Company X, their record is worse."

Whataboutism answers a specific criticism by redirecting to someone else’s unrelated failing, without ever addressing the original point.

Even if the counter-example is true, it doesn’t make the original criticism false. Company X having a worse record doesn’t fix this factory’s safety record.

Notice when a reply changes who’s being discussed instead of what’s being discussed. That’s the redirect.

Seen in the wild

Real, sourced instances of this technique in actual public debate.

Examples are chosen for how clearly they show the technique, not for who said it.

Donald Trump

Leans right

President of the United States

“There are a lot of killers. Do you think our country is so innocent?”

Interview recorded February 3, 2017; broadcast February 5-6, 2017Official Fox News interview transcript (opens on the source site)

WatchFox Sports' upload of the full interview

Context: Fox News host Bill O'Reilly told Trump, on-air, "Putin's a killer," challenging Trump's stated respect for the Russian president.
Reading: Instead of addressing whether it's appropriate to express respect for a leader described as a killer, Trump redirected to an unrelated claim about American wrongdoing generally, never engaging with the Putin question itself.

Boris Johnson

Leans right

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

“This Leader of the Opposition, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, although he spent most of his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile, as far as I can make out, chose to use this moment continually to prejudge a police inquiry.”

January 31, 2022TheyWorkForYou, mirroring the official Hansard record of House of Commons proceedings (opens on the source site)

Watchthe remark in the Commons, on video

Context: In the House of Commons, Keir Starmer had just pressed Johnson on the Sue Gray report findings that 12 "partygate" cases had met the threshold for criminal investigation.
Reading: Rather than answering the specific criticism about lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street, Johnson pivoted to an unrelated and, as later confirmed, false claim about Starmer's past prosecutorial record.

Jeremy Corbyn

Leans left

Leader of the UK Labour Party

“We won't accept it when we're attacked by Tory hypocrites who accuse us of anti-Semitism one day, then endorse Viktor Orban's hard-right government the next.”

September 26, 2018, Labour Party Conference, LiverpoolBuzzFeed News report quoting the speech verbatim, matching wording independently reported by BBC News (opens on the source site)

Watchthe full conference speech, on video

Context: This came amid sustained, specific criticism from Jewish community organisations, opposition figures and press that antisemitism had gone unaddressed within the Labour Party under his leadership.
Reading: Rather than addressing the specific antisemitism allegations against his own party, Corbyn redirected to an unrelated matter: Conservative MEPs' voting record alongside Hungary's Viktor Orban.

Raul Castro

Leans left

President of Cuba

“Do you think there's any more sacred right than the right to health, so that billions of children don't die just for the lack of a vaccine or a drug or a medicament? Do you agree with the right to free education for all those born anywhere in the world or in any country?”

March 21, 2016, Palace of the Revolution, HavanaOfficial White House transcript of the joint press conference (opens on the source site)

Watchthe full joint press conference, on video

Context: CNN journalist Jim Acosta asked Castro directly, at a joint press conference with President Obama, "Why do you have Cuban political prisoners? And why don't you release them?"
Reading: After denying political prisoners existed, Castro never returned to the specific question and instead pivoted to an unrelated comparison of Cuba's healthcare and education record versus other countries.

Know a good example?

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