Morality of sprinkling a dash, or maybe even a bucket of populism in your communication to then enact serious technocratic policies?

Here’s the dilemma. Be fully transparent, admit that society is complex and every policy creates winners and losers even when the net is positive, and the electorate ignores you. Or go populist: simplify, oversell, even deceive your way into power, then do what actually needs to be done.

It’s a spectrum, of course. Honest simplification at one end, outright lying at the other.

I believe people deserve honesty. But nice guys often finish last. Is it better to let things stay bad for everyone, just so you can call yourself honest? And if some spin is fine, when does it become manipulation?