Larry Hogan is the worst kind of Republican. He may be the most conservative possibility in a deep blue state like Maryland, but he’s absolutely not the direction the party is going. That was never more apparent than today when he decided to try to own President Trump in a back and forth on social media.

In the end, an avalanche of facts descended on the moderate governor.

If you had done your job, America's governors wouldn't have been forced to fend for themselves to find tests in the middle of a pandemic, as we successfully did in Maryland.

Stop golfing and concede. https://t.co/tCXO8etxge

— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) November 22, 2020

I’m sure that made the guys at The Lincoln Project swoon. He even brought up Trump’s golfing! What an absolutely brilliant own!

The problem is that Hogan is not only lying here, he’s lying about something that smells a whole lot like blatant corruption. As RedState covered months ago, Hogan’s excuse for buying tests from South Korea has been proven to be false.

According to the above article, Hogan apparently spent that money overseas while an American company was offering him the tests he needed at a lower price.

While the financials are interesting enough, the real reason this is raising eyebrows is because Hogan’s wife is South Korean. Why did Hogan choose to pay more to a foreign company? Are there family connections involved here? That’s certainly the insinuation the Post is making. Or was it simply to make Trump look bad by claiming he couldn’t get them domestically?

The state couldn’t even give the replacements away for free because they were of such poor quality.

— EJ (@Ejmiller25) November 22, 2020

Whether Hogan’s motivation was to make Trump look bad in a desperate attempt to boost himself in 2024 or whether there was real corruption here involving his wife’s family, the facts are clear. Hogan was offered domestic tests at a cheaper price. Instead, he bought defective South Korean tests, a move that likely cost some number of lives in his state.

But he doesn’t tweet insults, right? Is this really what some Republicans want to return to? Yeah, Hogan possesses a more traditional GOP demeanor, and that’s not necessarily a good thing, but he also is as flakey and corrupt as you’d expect. That he’d think it was a good idea to lie about these tests strikes me as more evidence of how unqualified he truly is.

For me personally, give me Trump’s brashness over this beltway garbage any day of the week. Someone let Hogan he’s not going to be a factor in 2024 so he can’t stop embarrassing himself.

(Please follow me on Twitter! @bonchieredstate)