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Reader question: Please explain this headline: Trump Embraces One Of Russia’s Favorite Propaganda Tactics — Whataboutism (NPR.org, March 17, 2017). What’s whataboutism exactly? My comments: You criticize someone for doing something wrong, and they say “What about you?” In a nutshell, that’s whataboutism, a retorting tactic turned into an art form or, seriously, an ideology, an ism. Without going into detail, we may infer that in our example, the article talks about all the times when US President Donald Trump is criticized for something, he talks back with, say, “What about Obama?”, or “What about Clinton?”, Hillary Clinton that is, Trump’s presidential opponent. Or “What about Bill?” Bill Clinton, that is, Hillary’s husband and former president. In short, Trump just talks tough – without admitting to anything he does wrong or poorly. It’s called “Russia’s favourite propaganda tactic” because Russia, or the Soviet Union in fact, used to adopt this tactic quite a lot during the cold war? The cold war? Google it, please. Or Bing it. Not only Russia, I remember China did the same thing, too. During the 1980s and 1990s, for example, whenever the United States criticized China on human rights, China said more or less the same thing: “What about your record?” Look at your slums and overpopulated prisons, etc. and so forth. In other words, take a look in the mirror. | 
