OPINION: Republican hypocrisy: How dumb do they think we are?

Republicans, we have a hypocrisy problem. By “we,” I mean all Americans because the GOP controls all three branches of government – even the U.S. Supreme Court. So yeah, all of us are affected by the GOP’s hypocrisy.

The problem starts with the party’s Messiah, our newly inaugurated president who is guided by entirely by self-interest. As a prophet with a high-speed connection to God, everything that spills from his mouth is enshrined as Republican policy.

He and other GOP leaders claim, without apparent irony, to “support” the Constitution. That’s the claim, but it is not supported by reality.

Take Jan. 6, 2021, when -- having lost both the popular vote and the Electoral College -- the Messiah urged his followers to storm the U.S. Capitol and “fight like hell or you won’t have a country anymore.” Not coincidentally, Jan. 6 was the day Congress was scheduled to certify results of the 2020 presidential election.

From a Republican perspective, if you don’t like what’s in the Constitution, you simply ignore it. After that, your prophet can make up the rules as he goes along. If that fails, he can gaslight the American people by insisting nothing untoward happened on Jan. 6.

The GOP is striving mightily to airbrush the insurrection out of existence, but that goal is unattainable because we all saw it, in real time, on TV. Unlike Winston Smith in “1984,” our new president cannot sweep events of that day down the memory hole.

Want another example of Republican hypocrisy?

THE CLAIM: The GOP “backs the blue” and is the party of law and order.

THE REALITY: Immediately upon re-entering the White House, our new president pardoned more than 1,500 convicted criminals who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 -- battling with police, looting and destroying federal property, then smearing feces on the walls. More than 140 of “The Blue” were injured that day, and one -- U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick -- died the following day. His death is hardly surprising, given that Sicknick was repeatedly sprayed in the face with a chemical irritant, which triggered a stroke, and then another stroke.

Here’s what “Back the Blue” means in today’s GOP-speak: Spray pepper in a cop’s face, he dies the next day, you go to prison, and then you get pardoned by the president of the United States.

Several other police officers committed suicide shortly after the Jan. 6 insurrection. The GOP refuses to acknowledge any of those officers, so let’s take a moment to do so here: 1) Metropolitan Police Officer Gunther Hashida; 2) Kyle DeFreytag, also of the MPD; 3) Jeffrey Smith, also of the MPD; and 4) U.S. Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood.

Never mind that everyone who violently fought with police on Jan. 6 has been pardoned. Rather than “convicted criminals,” they are now known as “patriots.”

Back the Blue? Sorry, the correct phrase is “Screw the Blue.”

Want another helping of hypocrisy?

THE CLAIM: The Republican Party cares about the health of all Americans.

THE REALITY: During his first term in office, our new president insisted the COVID-19 pandemic would “… just go away.” In fact, the pandemic did not go away and more than 1.21 million Americans have died from the disease. Because it didn’t fulfill the president’s wish, COVID-19 made him look silly, ineffective and weak.

Now that he’s back in office, our new president is unwilling to risk another embarrassment. To satisfy a vain man’s ego, the United States summarily withdrew from the World Health Organization; the apparent “logic” is that deadly viruses will now respect U.S. sovereignty and refrain from entering the country. To further safeguard Americans’ health, our new president has nominated a grotesquely unfit candidate -- with a famous family name -- to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

So much for protecting public health, eh?

These are just a few examples of the hypocrisy that’s strangling logic, decency and fair play in this country. There are plenty of others, such as denying that climate change is real. Or decapitating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. C’mon, why would the GOP want financial protection for American consumers?

Caveat emptor, suckers!

Every day brings new revelations of Republican hypocrisy. To steal a line from Sir Isaac Newton, we try to make sense of these insults to our intelligence, turning them over and over in our minds, like children examining seashells at the beach while a great ocean of malfeasance lies undiscovered before us.

Brock has been a Daily News columnist for more than 22 years. He has lived on the Palouse even longer.