From the shameless hypocrite files: Republican politicians blast government spending but take credit for the cash

In addition to being corrupt, mendacious authoritarians (fascists IMO), a central marker of the modern Republican politician is shameless hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is now so meaningless to Republicans that it is irrelevant. No Republican is fazed by being a hypocrite. No political blowback against hypocrisy arises. The New York Times describes some of this moral sleaze:

At her annual budget address this month, Gov. Kristi Noem, Republican of South Dakota, blamed President Biden’s economic policies for rising prices, derided the “giant handout” of federal stimulus funds and suggested that she had considered refusing the money over ideological objections.

But like many Republican officials, Ms. Noem has found it hard to say no to her state’s share of the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief aid that Democrats passed along party lines in March.

Ms. Noem explained to fellow legislators how critical those federal funds were to South Dakota and outlined how she would use some of the nearly $1 billion slated for her state to invest in local water projects, make housing more affordable and build new day care centers. [That sounds like socialism - LOCK HER UP!! LOCK HER UP!! LOCK HER UP!!] For those questioning her choice to take the money, Ms. Noem, who has opposed Covid restrictions including shutdowns and mask mandates, said any pandemic-relief funds she rejected would have just gone to other states.

“It would be spent somewhere other than South Dakota,” Ms. Noem said. “The debt would still be incurred by the country, and our people would still suffer the consequences of that spending.” No state has declined the relief money, and if any had it would go back to the Treasury Department, not to other states. [Note: See Ms. Noem’s lie here?]

Republican leaders across the country have been engaged in a similarly awkward dance over the past few months as they accept — and often champion — money from the $350 billion bucket of state and local aid included in the stimulus bill, which passed Congress without a single Republican vote. In some states, like Ohio and Arizona, Republican governors are spending the funds while attempting to undercut the law that allowed the money to flow. Other governors are faulting Congress for not giving their state enough money. [Hm. That sounds like more Republican socialists, LOCK 'EM UP!! LOCK 'EM UP!! LOCK 'EM UP!!]

And, like their counterparts in Congress, many Republicans have blasted Mr. Biden’s stimulus bill for fueling inflation, even as they take the funds, and criticized Democrats for pushing for additional government spending plans.

“I urge President Biden and Democrats in D.C. to turn off the spigot of out-of-control spending and get inflation under control,” said Gov. Greg Gianforte, Republican of Montana, whose state has used some of its $906 million in stimulus money to invest in nursing homes and return-to-work bonuses. [That is more Republican communist socialism or whatever, LOCK HIM UP!! LOCK HIM UP!! LOCK HIM UP!!]

The NYT goes on to report that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), complained that the federal allocation of money to states based on their jobless rate penalized Florida for not imposing lockdowns and allowing businesses to remain open during the pandemic. Hypocrite DeSantis snarked: “I think you’d have to acknowledge that we got the short end of the stick compared to these other states.” But in fact, Florida, was allotted $8.8 billion, and so far received ~$3.4 billion. DeSantis is spending that on infrastructure, transportation and work force retention. He justifies keeping the money, arguing that the federal government fueled economic disruption with shutdowns and vaccine and mask mandates that he opposed. 

And, it gets worse in Florida. Despite self-righteous Republican complaints, the federal cash will help Florida accumulate ~$17 billion in reserves by the end of next year. Florida can then pay for priorities that are unrelated to the pandemic such as a gas tax holiday and an $8 million program to remove “unauthorized aliens” from of the state. So here, the snarky, corrupt hypocrite DeSantis is using fungible taxpayer COVID relief dollars to pay for things that will help him get re-elected in part by lambasting Democrats as big-spending, corrupt, socialist-communist tyrants and pedophiles. 

Republican hypocrisy is just staggering. However, hypocrisy is easy, fun, legal and painless, so why not?

Question: Why not be a hypocrite if it (i) helps bamboozle the base and the public generally, and (ii) that helps with election or re-election, while costing the politician or candidate nothing economically, politically, morally, socially or in any other way?