Wag the dog

Diversional political strategy, often military in nature

Wag the dog is, as a political term, the act of creating a diversion from a damaging issue usually through military force. It stems from the generic use of the term to mean a small and seemingly unimportant entity controls a bigger, more important one. It is usually used by a politician when they are in a scandal, in hopes that people forget about the scandal and focus on the more important issue. The phrase originates in the saying "a dog is smarter than its tail, but if the tail were smarter, then it would wag the dog." The concept has strong intersections with many other aspects of Diversionary foreign policy, particularly the rally 'round the flag effect, as wag the dog actions tend to both distract and seek to bolster support through these actions.

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