Everyone knows the GOP tax bill is an abomination. But in its disregard for reality, its obvious plutocratic aims, and its flagrant hypocrisy, it’s also the logical culmination of the last forty years of Republican politics. Which makes it all the more surprising that it’s come as such a shock to so many who should know better.

Pundits across the land are appalled — appalled! — at the GOP’s unabashed disregard for the deficit, their shoddy math, and their casual employment of strategies that they spent years alleging the Democrats had used to pass Obamacare. These commentators, you see, have come to a realization: perhaps Republican rhetoric about prudent belt-tightening and reining in spending isn’t sincere.

“I interviewed Paul Ryan and Ron Johnson dozens (100s?) of times about the danger posed by the national debt,” wrote conservative “never-Trumper” and current MSNBC contributor Charlie Sykes. “Really disconcerting to watch them now embrace bill that will add $1 trillion or more to that debt.”