"Why do people think this is a backfire?"

It's called clickbait. It's like all those articles that say Putin was humiliated or received a "major setback" by something that happened, and then when you read the actual article, the something turns out to be totally inconsequential in stopping him from what he's doing. I've long suspected articles like this aim to help people like Trump and Putin while profiting off of the gullible people who click on the headlines because it makes them feel good.