1 year ago
65
Pointing out Republican hypocrisy is always tempting. It’s so easy to come up with examples—but the sheer ease of finding those examples shows why we need a different way of understanding what might appear to be hypocrisy. Because something else entirely is going on.
The same week right-wing Christian groups were at the Supreme Court arguing that businesses should be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ people, the Family Foundation of Virginia was all over the right-wing media screaming about a restaurant having refused to serve them because of their bigotry. Months after Sen. Lindsey Graham said that abortion law should be left to the states, he introduced a federal abortion ban. Republicans obsess about Hunter Biden’s supposed corruption while embracing the rampant corruption of Donald Trump's adult offspring. One Republican politician after another turns out to have paid for their partners to get abortions while they oppose legal abortion. Republicans yell about voter fraud while committing voter fraud. They scream about “groomers” while their politicians and operatives keep getting busted for actual child sexual abuse.If you think that consistency within any specific issue is desirable, or that doing a turnabout on one thing represents hypocrisy, all of these things look ragingly hypocritical. But that’s misunderstanding how the right-wing thinks.
It’s actually really simple: The right-wing belief system is that if it benefits them, it’s good. If they want it, it’s right. If it helps them gain power, it’s proper.
