--- title: Donald Trump's Whataboutism Is His Favorite Dodge description: When faced with a tough question, President Trump has a favorite dodge: What about something else? canonical: https://time.com/4941771/donald-trump-whataboutism-rhetoric/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-14T17:26:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:51:29.891Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump's Favorite Dodge to a Tough Question: "What About...?" og:description: It's a technique called Whataboutism. og:url: https://time.com/4941771/donald-trump-whataboutism-rhetoric/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt220e620c82a17e89/6988dd45096a9464b769f88a/gettyimages-843825652.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: U.S. President Donald Trump answers reporters' questions during a joint news conference with Amir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait in the East Room of the White House September 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump's Favorite Dodge to a Tough Question: "What About...?" twitter:description: It's a technique called Whataboutism. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt220e620c82a17e89/6988dd45096a9464b769f88a/gettyimages-843825652.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump's Favorite Dodge to a Tough Question: "What About...?" > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ff379382-b9da-44dc-a68f-c7c91b071c5a&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: “What About…” President Trump’s Favorite Dodge [Watch (HLS stream): “What About…” President Trump’s Favorite Dodge](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8kg0dG6J.m3u8) (2:08)  _Published 2017-09-14. Ask Donald Trump a tough question, and he’ll often answer: What about something else?_ by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 14, 2017 5:26 PM UTC Ask Donald Trump a tough question, and he’ll often answer: What about something else? by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 14, 2017 5:26 PM UTC When faced with a tough question, President Trump has a favorite dodge: What about something else? When pressed in August on whether Charlottesville, Virginia, should keep a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, Trump asked [what about other statues](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/whataboutism-what-about-it/2017/08/17/4d05ed36-82b4-11e7-b359-15a3617c767b%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.573b577022b0) of famous Americans. “George Washington was a slave owner,” he said. “Are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson?” It’s a classic rhetorical move that was particularly popular during the Soviet era, when officials would dodge difficult questions by throwing mud at the United States—at one point so common that it became the [punchline of a Russian joke](http://www.economist.com/node/10598774). Watch this video to learn more about how Trump uses the technique. ## Transcript Ask Donald Trump a tough question, and he'll often answer, what about something else? He did it when he was asked about white nationalist protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia. What about the alt left that came charging at the as you say the alt right, do they have any semblance of guilt? It's a well known rhetorical technique called whataboutism. And it's used everywhere from your local playground [ SOUND ] to Russian propaganda [ FOREIGN ]. The technique began during the Cold War as Soviet spokesmen sought to deflect criticism. It had died down in political use since the 1990s but lately it's made something of a comeback. When Russian President Vladimir Putin was asked about meddling in the 2016 election he gave a classic example of what aboutism. Put your finger anywhere on the map of the world and everywhere you will hear complaints that American officials are interfering in internal electoral processes. But in the US its biggest practitioner is Donald Trump. He used it when he was asked about the hacking of Hillary Clinton's campaign. I mean think of it, they gave her the questions to a debate and she should have reported herself. He used it when asked about CEOs leaving his advisory council over his remarks on Charlottesville. If you look at some of those people talking about. They're outside of the country, they're having a lot of their product made outside, if you look at Merck as an example. He used it when asked about his controversial pardon of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. But I wanted to look at some of the other people that were pardoned over the years and if you look at, as an example, President Clinton pardoned Mark Rich. Who was charged with crimes going back decades. President Obama commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, who leaked countless sensitive and classified documents to Wiki Leaks, perhaps and others. And in an ironic twist the used it to criticize America When asked about his respect for Vladimir Putin. Putin's a killer. A lot of killers, we got a lot of killers. What do you think? 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