The perils, and benefits, of whataboutism

NPR, other left-wing sources, and even some conservative columnists, have discovered a grave new danger coming from the always dangerous President Trump. Trump, they claim, "has developed a consistent tactic when he's criticized: say that someone else is worse." This dreaded tactic is labeled the doctrine of "whataboutism," which is described as:

Party A accuses Party B of doing something bad. Party B responds by changing the subject and pointing out one of Party A's faults--"Yeah? Well what about that bad thing you did?" (Hence the name.)

In an NPR article, writer Danielle Kurtzleben points out that Trump is following in the footsteps of...the Russians (GASP!), and President Vladimir Putin, and before them, their predecessors the Soviet communists. According to NPR, the risk is that:

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