From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishstraw manstraw manAmerican EnglishBEAT/DEFEAT a weak opponent or imaginary argument that can easily be defeated → straw
Examples from the Corpus
straw man• And, like Sir Geoffrey and Mr Heseltine, he routinely sets up federalism as a straw man to knock down.• Whether Lorenz's critics were firing a straw man is unimportant.• The creationist position in the Origin is never merely a straw man to be knocked down.• The half-hour show uses these to the fullest, setting up straw man after straw man for Daria to demolish. 