red herring

/ˌred ˈherɪŋ/

introducing an irrelevant topic to divert attention

red herring in a sentence

“Bringing up his charity work during the fraud trial was a red herring.”

English red + herring, from the practice of using smoked herring to train hunting dogs or distract them from a scent

Related Words

slippery slope

arguing that one event will inevitably lead to extreme consequences

straw man

misrepresenting someone's argument to make it easier to attack

sunk cost fallacy

continuing something because of previously invested resources

tu quoque

deflecting criticism by pointing to the critic's similar behavior

whataboutism

responding to criticism by pointing to others' faults

appeal to tradition

arguing that something is valid because it has always been done that way