Ruling class does it all the time. Keep citizens enraged on issues of race, gender, religion, sports, and so on so they are distracted from realising the one true war of ruling class vs everybody else.
/s in a sense that shit flung at the ruling class tends to role downhill. If nestle loses a bunch of money, they will raise prices to keep the infinite growth machine running. If Russia steals a bunch of money, they have more capital for weapons.