When Rep. Pat Fallon (R-X) characterized the forgiveness program as an “illegal, vote-buying scheme,” the White House responded by pointing out that Fallon’s companies had $500,000 worth of PPP loans forgiven. Later, it also posted a graphic featuring the names, faces, and amount of money in PPP loans that 13 Republican members of Congress had forgiven. ...

Is the president’s opinion of Americans so low that he thinks they will be deceived into accepting this false equivalency? The Paycheck Protection Program was from its very start a de facto grant program. Under its terms, small businesses could take out loans that would be forgiven so long as they spent the money they took out on certain enumerated expenses and did not let go of any staff or lower the wages of that staff.

As the name suggests, it was not designed to be a boon to entrepreneurs, but to keep people employed at a time when an epochal event and government policy were conspiring to economically devastate American businesses.