Whataboutism and misdirection: The latest tools of dumb political combat

Meanwhile, on the right, some sort of defense had to be mounted against the onslaught of anonymous leaks about the embattled Trump administration. As Americans became more and more concerned about questionable connections between the Trump team and the Russian government, Trump acolytes began tweeting incessantly about Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee staffer murdered in 2016 in what police termed a botched robbery. Trump supporters alleged that Rich was actually murdered by John Podesta or Hillary Clinton or Huma Abedin or Bozo the Clown for having leaked material from the Democratic National Committee to Wikileaks. Conveniently, Rich’s body had to be exhumed, debunked evidence had to be paraded before the cameras. Why would the media cover the alleged Trump–Russia collusion — no evidence! — but not Seth Rich? Why would they attempt to scuttle Sean Hannity’s television show for covering the Rich allegations? What did the Democrats have to hide?

Now, never mind that no evidence has yet been provided that Rich sent material to Wikileaks, let alone that he was murdered by nefarious Clinton henchmen — an act that would boggle the imagination of anyone but the most ardent Clinton conspiracy theorist. Rich was a convenient distraction.

When both sides play the distraction game, all we have are distractions. There are no facts, merely alternative facts. There can be no crystallizing events from which we emerge more unified — there can only be dueling narratives. There can be no common facts for us to agree on — there can only be a series of faux scandals, building on one another like a game of Jenga, until the entire edifice comes crashing down.