--- 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: 2026-02-23T17:26:06.161Z 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, three times 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. by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Sep 14, 2017 5:26 PM UTC  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. 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. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images 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). 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