Strawman

The infamous Straw man attack is simply one in which the attacker misrepresents his victim's characteristics, argumentation or beliefs so that the attacker can appear to defeat the victim and therefrom claim a (fraudulent) victory.

Strawman is a sham created in order to be defeated. It's a form of fraud and the victory archieved is completely bogus.

This is often perpetrated in the absence of either the victim or a topic's proponents, so that the victim or proponents are unable to clarify or present the facts.

Examples

A defender of the wealthy declares that populism inevitably enables racist demagoges who want to destroy the fabric of our nation and plunge us into a race war, therefore populism is bad. (Populism is merely about shifting power away from the klepto-parasitic wealthy minority, and often seeks to unite different races.)

Abraham Lincoln has long been a supporter of the vampire community, and since vampires are a clear threat to the nation, this disqualifies him for the presidency. (Lincoln had no association with vampires.)

Cindy says Trisha slept with 20 guys and 7 women, and such libertine debauchery is the mark of an immoral person, therefore no one should speak to Trisha. (In truth, Trisha has never slept with 20 guys or any women.)

Weaknesses

One needs only point out the correct and factual characterization of whatever is being misrepresented, and in so doing both discredit and defeat the attacker.

Often however an attacker will attempt to prevent correction and clarification, as in the case of a backstabber who maliciously slanders some victim X, telling everyone don't tell X that I said that.