wag the dog 

to cause a persuasive movement in any large body of influence, i.e., a mass of people, through means by which a lesser influence is utilized.

From the phrase, 'It's the tail that wags the dog.' This can be seen when a dog begins to wag it's tail, and it's body then follows.

in partisan politics, an unpopular party will wag the dog using a variety of provocative political manoeverings and machinations to undermine the public favour from the popular party, out of which a momentum can be borne.

wag the dog by seanonyms September 18, 2013

wag the dog 

When something of secondary importance improperly takes on the role of something of primary importance. The expression pre-dates the movie by the same name, and was NOT coined by said movie.

Concentrate on the dog wagging his tail, not on that the tail might wag the dog.

wag the dog by Anomie April 18, 2006

wag the dog 

To start a war or military operation to divert negative politcal attention away from yourself. Based on the movie of the same name, where the President fabricates a fake war to take political pressure away from a scandal.

When Cater ordered Opertaion Eagle Claw he was playing wag the dog, because he was a very unpopular and weak President and wanted to seem like he handled it strongly.

It is suggested that Clinton wagged the dog by helping NATO bomb Kosovo at the same time as the Lewinski scandal. This theory came about because the film had just been released.

wag the dog by PeaTearGriffin October 30, 2005

wag the dog 

To cause a desired result by means other than the obvious or rational method. Imagine you want a dog to wag it's tail. You should make the dog happy, and the tail will wag. If you can't or won't make the dog happy, you can get the tail to wag by "wagging the dog".

When the college saw that black students were failing Calculus at a disproportionately high rate to their enrollment, they decided to wag the dog by making the tests less difficult.

wag the dog by Crack-boy November 26, 2007

wag the dog 

What you do when your reality sucks

A: Hey let's go to a movie tonight
B: I'm feeling Meh. I think I'll just stay home and wag the dog instead
A: But you do that every night. There's no hope for you. Why do I even bother?

wag the dog by wankadankadoo September 13, 2013

to wag the dog 

verb, transitive. To masturbate.

Mr X: So, did you get up to anything after we went to that strip club last night?
Mr Y: Not really, I thought about watching a movie but I was too busy wagging the dog

to wag the dog by Big_fets March 15, 2004

Dog the wag

When ordinary people **flip the script on a “Wag the Dog” situation**—exposing, ignoring, or mocking the distraction created by those in power and forcing attention back onto the real issue. It’s when **the public outmaneuvers the propaganda**.

**In simple terms:**
When the people **call out the distraction and make it fail**.

**Origin / Idea:**
A reversal of **Wag the Dog**, where leaders create a fake crisis to distract the public. In **“Dog the Wag,”** the public recognizes the trick and **turns the distraction back on its creators**.

**Related concepts:**

* Crowd fact-checking
* Narrative judo
* Propaganda backfire

* *“They tried to start a culture war to hide the corruption scandal, but social media dug up the receipts. Total dog the wag.”*
* *“The government pushed a security scare, but protesters kept talking about food prices. Classic dog the wag.”*

Dog the wag by Brokefast March 9, 2026