More fascinating are the RW bot-hoards ginning up a variety of divisive messages whether it’s that anti-HRC meme in terms of the DNC and the 2016 campaign or Trump re-framing Donna Brazile’s recent remarks… a vast whataboutist conspiracy.
Donald Trump has not been excluded from a federal investigation into Russia's meddling efforts during the 2016 election, despite months of the president and his White House administration denying he was included in the probe, a key member of the House Intelligence Committee confirmed on Thursday morning.
www.newsweek.com/...
Trump is going over the edge because there is now a trial date in May 2018 for Paul Manafort which is an incentive for him to cooperate before then.
While in Asia, Trump will attempt to recuperate his relevance with tweets, even if they have become the only thing about which he can be dictatorial. More fascinating was a DJT signal this morning begging Saudi Arabia for something perhaps related to the oil market.
These days, however, the person most often accused of whataboutism is President Donald Trump. The latest example is his reaction to the Paul Manafort indictment:
As an appeal to fairness, and to correcting for an opponent's biases, whataboutism is not a distraction tactic but an important weapon against a different propaganda technique, known as framing. In a point-scoring political debate, the side that succeeds in making its description of the situation stick is often the one that wins.
For example, if the Democrats manage to frame Russia's "active measures" as a plot to elect Trump, they have scored an important point.
Some "whataboutism" on the Republican side won't end the investigation into that possibility -- but it can help level the playing field.
www.bloomberg.com/...
Whataboutism as public policy can be seen in Bannonism applied by Trump which is an extreme version of regulatory capture of federal agencies.
Rather than inserting industry experts as political appointees in federal middle management or on advisory councils like ALEC to write model regulation, it’s as if Trump chose to put Kevin Spacey in charge of the Boy Scouts. It’s not deconstructing as much as demolishing. It’s the diversion put in place to take the cops’ attention away from the bank robbery.