The indictment of Donald Trump on charges of retaining government documents brought with it the inevitable false equivalencies of the conduct of Trump's chief political rival. But the actions of the two men are as different as deliberately driving your car into a crowd of people and committing a fender-bender. Both acts involve cars, but the similarities end there. Whataboutism may have become a common political ploy but it is a trick straight out of the disinformation playbook.

On Thursday, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Trump with 37 counts encompassing violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, false statements, and conspiracy. The charges are based on his months-long battle with the National Archives and the Justice Department over government documents with classified markings that Trump claims are his, even though the Presidential Records Act makes them the property of the United States. The 49-page indictment details Trump's efforts to deceive the Archives, the FBI, and even his own lawyers.

In contrast, Biden, as well as Trump's vice president, Mike Pence, have come forward with information in the past year that they each had inadvertently retained classified documents at the end of their terms as vice president. Both men returned the documents and allowed the FBI to search their homes for any stray records. Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to investigate Biden, and the probe into Pence was recently closed without charges.

Following his indictment, Trump went on the attack against Biden, posting on his Truth Social platform the news that had been charged by "the corrupt Biden Administration," "seemingly over the Boxes Hoax, even though Joe Biden has 1850 Boxes at the University of Delaware, additional Boxes in Chinatown, D.C., with even more Boxes at the University of Pennsylvania, and documents strewn all over his garage floor where he parks his Corvette, and which is "secured" by only a garage door that is paper thin, and open much of the time." Trump's supporters were quick to follow suit. Stating that "Joe Biden was found to have classified information in Delaware, Philadelphia, and Boston," Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) called the Trump case a "witch hunt against the Republican front runner" for president in 2024.

In court, prosecutors will certainly file a motion to preclude the defense from making any references to Biden from the case against Trump. But in the court of public opinion, beware of the cynical tactic to minimize Trump's grave threat to our national security.