[Chyzwar]

  > The communication intent is often to distract from the content of a topic (red herring). The goal may also be to question the justification for criticism and the legitimacy, integrity, and fairness of the critic, which can take on the character of discrediting the criticism, which may or may not be justified. Common accusations include double standards, and hypocrisy, but it can also be used to relativize criticism of one's own viewpoints or behaviors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

Both Clintons private email server, Pete signal chats and Trump documents stash in Mar-a-lago are equally bad. Lack of consequences signal erosion of “Law and order” in the US. It seems that US is now not different from third rate countries where last minute exceptions, insider trading, open bribery, secret police(ICE) and targeted prosecution is a new norm.

[comfysocks]

I agree that all three are bad and shouldn’t be tolerated.

However, Hegseth’s transgression was the worst in terms of severity by orders of magnitude. Details of an in-progress military operation and all.

[Chyzwar]

We do not know. We do not know what documents Trump had in Mar-a-lago, who had access to them, and what he shared with others. Furthermore, we do not know what was in Clintons emails and who read them. If anything, Hegseth’s is less damming, since we know the content of chat and participants. In both Clintons and Trump cases, the impact could be much bigger. The problem in all cases is lack of accountability.