What is the term for someone who is trying to create controversy out of nothing?
For example, a politician attempting to cause outrage over a very minor thing done by a member of an opposing party.
What is the term for someone who is trying to create controversy out of nothing?
For example, a politician attempting to cause outrage over a very minor thing done by a member of an opposing party.
As a verb I suggest to polemicize which is a rather formal term but It may fit in the context you are describing:
- to practice the art of disputation; engage in polemics or controversy.
The Free Dictionary
How about muckraker?
muckrake
to search for and expose real or alleged corruption, scandal or the like, especially in politics
If you want a colloquial term, such a person is known in Britain as a stirrer.
Someone who stirs trouble, largely for their own amusement.
Well there's troublemaker, of course, and in some contexts, rabblerouser. But my personal favorite is molehillmountainizer.
– Sven Yargs May 27, 2015
One of these terms may fit:
A few noun forms, I proffer-
bad hat/troublemaker/mischief-maker.
Someone who deliberately stirs up trouble. (vocabulary.com)
There are many ways to name this, and it is very based on how the person does it.
If the politician is arguing about the person, not the argument, it's an "ad hominem" (literal: about the man).
Person: "I think the war in Iraq was unjust."
Politician: "Well that's obvious coming from a communist hippie."
If the politician is willfully twisting the subject out of scope, it's a "straw man".
Person: "I think the war in Iraq was unjust."
Politician: "China also objected to the war in Iraq. You cannot make our country into a communist society. Communism is clearly inferior."
There are many, many differences.
Although I didn't vet them all, the list on this webpage seems to be a good starter resource for differentiating between different types.
mud-slinger or mudslinger
(noun) derived from:
mud-slinging (informal noun): the use of insults and accusations, especially unjust ones, with the aim of damaging the reputation of an opponent.
Politicians seem to rely on mud-slinging instead of argument.
[Sources] Wiki. Oxford Dict.