The GOP treats their base the way con artists treat their marks, or Fox "News" treats their viewers. They lie to manipulate them to do and support things they otherwise never would. The truth doesn't matter to them, what matters is what they can get.

More Republicans seem to have lied about their resumes. Who’s surprised?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/02/20/republican-liars-resumes/

#GOPLies
#GOPGrifts
#GOPBaseRSuckers

"It keeps happening. Republicans are no longer just lying about the world around them — about climate change or vaccines or voter fraud — they’re increasingly lying about themselves.

So far, nobody beats Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) when it comes to fictitious resumes. He seems to have lied about virtually his entire life experience — from his volleyball career to his college education to his mother’s death on 9/11 to his family’s flight from the Holocaust. He appears to have played fast and loose with finances as well. He now faces criminal inquiries about whether he conducted scams (even one about service dogs!) and misrepresented information on his campaign disclosure forms. (Santos, though he has admitted to fabricating his background, has consistently denied claims of wrongdoing.)

But Santos is hardly alone. The Post reported on the many questions about biographical claims from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.). She has told conflicting stories as to whether she is Jewish. She claimed to have been raised as a “Messianic Jew,” but relatives say her father was Catholic. (In fact, her grandfather fought for Nazi Germany.) She changed her last name from Mayerhofer to Luna, and The Post found no evidence for her claims that her father was incarcerated for long periods. Other claims that she was traumatized by a home invasion in 2010 did not check out, either.

Luna has disputed the accusations and responded to The Post’s reporting with a statement that “anyone who is a conservative minority is a threat to Leftist control. They can try to discredit me, but unfortunately for them the facts completely blow their story out of the water.”

Then there’s Rep. Andrew Ogles (R-Tenn.), who, contrary to claims he made in his election campaign, is not an economist. Tennessee’s NewsChannel 5 reports that Ogles has no degree in economics and was never employed as one. Moreover, his claim that he was a “trained police officer and international sex crimes expert” was reminiscent of failed Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker’s wild exaggerations about working for law enforcement; in reality, Ogles was a volunteer reserve deputy.

A spokeswoman for Ogles’s office said via email: “This is another attempt by the liberal media to make something out of nothing. It’s a simple case of condensing a resume for the sake of brevity on the campaign trail, and partisan hacks are trying to turn it into a headline for clicks.”
...
Clearly, biographical fiction is a trend among Republicans. Walker compulsively lied during his campaign about everything from his education to his business background to the number of kids he had. And even before his election, former president Donald Trump had his share of personal fabrications, including his insistence that he was Michigan “Man of the Year” (an award that doesn’t exist) and his apparent exaggerations about his wealth.

This shouldn’t be surprising. Republicans have long abandoned the notion that politics is about problem solving or “public service.” When politics becomes performance art, the more extravagant the claims they make — whether they are about themselves or the world — the better. Moreover, Trump and right-wing media (including the Fox News anchors who privately disparaged viewers and conceded that Trump was lying about the election) have proved that a large segment of Republican voters will buy anything.

So it makes sense that so many Republicans apparently believe they too can fool the masses. These characters certainly know that GOP leaders will exact no punishment for scamming voters. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) is so desperate to keep his job that he has sacrificed critical powers and returned extreme characters such as Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R-Ariz.) to House committees. He isn’t about to eject members for making up degrees or phony heroic details about their past.

When a party decides to peddle in lies and propaganda, they can expect liars and propagandists to fill their ranks. When the incentive to mislead voters is greater than any incentive to tell the truth, you wind up with a party of charlatans. In other words, today’s GOP."

The GOP only cares about winning and serving their masters, the obscenely wealthy. They embrace lying, cheating, voter suppression, corruption, and grift. Anything is OK if it gives them the power to take care of their wealthy benefactors or maintain the unholy alliance of fundamentalists, racists and criminals that gives them the votes needed to serve their benefactors. They couldn't care less about democracy or the American people.

Santos, McCarthy and the Shameless Republican Party https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/santos-mccarthy-and-the-shameless-republican-party/

#GOPLies
#GOPHatesDemocracy
#GOPCorrupt
#GOPGrifts

"The hallmark of the modern Republican Party is its shamelessness. You can be many things and still be a Republican — in favor of free trade or opposed; pro-Ukraine or pro-Putin; even in favor of climate change legislation or against. However, you must not feel shame. You cannot admit mistakes. Hypocrisy is a virtue, not a vice. Most of all, never admit defeat.
...
The Republican Party today embraces crooks. It revels in cheating. It celebrates fraudsters.

In former President Donald Trump’s GOP, being a crook is the way to prove loyalty. It shows you belong to the in-crowd. Being convicted of a felony is a badge of honor similar to becoming a “made man” in the mob.

This explains the GOP’s continued embrace of Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). He is not a party outcast; he is its perfect embodiment. He lies with ease and adds a splash of not-so-subtle racism for the party faithful. Santos did not just lie about a few big things to get elected. He lied about inconsequential things, like being a star collegiate volleyball player at a college he did not attend. But, most importantly he did it all without shame.

When Republican operatives learned about Santos’ lies before the election, they were not aghast. They found it funny and looked the other way. They weren’t laughing at Santos for telling lies; they were laughing at the voters for believing them. Like the worthless trinkets Trump peddles to his gullible supporters, Santos was selling voters a garbage can full of lies and the GOP admired his ability to con voters into believing it. They knew he was a crook and they loved every minute of it.

Two years ago, when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) trafficked in racism, antisemitism and conspiracy theories, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was willing to condemn her comments, even if he didn’t take action to punish her
...
With Santos, McCarthy dares not even hint at disapproval. Trump’s “Kevin” has become Santos’ lapdog. Even after McCarthy learned that Santos’ staff impersonated McCarthy’s chief of staff to fundraise and rip people off, he did not complain. The most impotent speaker in modern history has embraced Santos and his lies, big and small.

McCarthy ...Without any sense of irony, he appointed the fraudster to the Committee on Small Business and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. McCarthy did it because he has no shame.
...
Democracy only works if we share certain core values in common — Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, young and old.

Politicians must feel shame to have a functioning democracy. I am not talking about civic virtue or political courage. I am talking about something more basic: common decency. Shared decency is what holds our democratic system together. It helps citizens of differing views to trust each other. It allows political leaders to act in good faith based on a common understanding that some behavior is simply out of bounds.

A party that mocks acts of common decency cannot be trusted to campaign fairly within the rules. When one party targets minority voters with gross acts of suppression and intimidation, we cannot celebrate the democratic process regardless of who wins. If election workers are subjected to partisan harassment and vilification, we cannot have a democracy that accurately counts votes or certifies results.

There is no easy solution for our current situation because the government can’t mandate decency. We also must realize that Democrats are helpless to make this better. Only Republicans can change their culture and restore decency to their party. For now, at least, there is no sign that Republicans want to restore honor and dignity to the Grand Old Party.
...
I have no illusions about our generation’s McCarthy. But I promise that if I ever run into him, I will stand up and shout: “You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?” I doubt he will feel shame."

Video: An aide for Rep. Santos (R-NY) impersonated Kevin McCarthy’s Chief of Staff to solicit money from GOP donors, per @CNBC.
#GOPCorrupt
#GOPGrifts

https://flip.it/sgvIdR