Whataboutism
Responding to a criticism by pointing at someone else's bad behavior instead of addressing the criticism itself.
Origin
The technique has a long history; the name is Soviet-era. When Western critics raised human-rights abuses in the USSR, the standard reply was 'And what about lynchings in America?' — A pinned a label on this maneuver in the late 1970s. The word migrated into Western political vocabulary after the Cold War and exploded in usage during the Trump and Brexit years.
Modern usage
Universal stock move in cable-news debate and online argument. Closely related to tu quoque but more general — whataboutism doesn't need the other side to be the accuser. Calling it out has itself become a stock move ('classic whataboutism'), and sometimes the deflection back is whataboutism in its own right.
In the wild
Yes, our PM lied. But what about the opposition's expense claims in 2014?— common usage (whataboutism example)
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