When people act surprised by actions taken by politicians or corporations that harm the working class or the country as a whole, is it genuine surprise, denial, or "playing dumb" for a rhetorical effect?

This is specifically about the U.S., I don't know how it plays out in other contexts. Also, I'm going to try not to rant too much or attack liberals, I'll try to be just critical enough for you to understand where I'm coming from. It's not exclusively a liberal phenomenon, that's just where I've noticed it the most.

Example: I just saw a thread about the GOP cutting thousands of people from ACA plans and the title was "In what universe does this make sense?" To which the obvious answer is "This one."

I feel like this is the majority of political discourse everywhere I go, like actions taken against the working class by people in power are somehow counterintuitive. There seems to be some view of the world in which this type of thing is not completely predictable, a view that is never really expounded on, but is assumed by most people. If it were just a few people I would think they were just venting, but it's starting to feel like most people are lacking even a basic understanding of why actions are taken by anyone with more power than an assistant manager at a fast food joint.

Another topic where this comes up a lot is work culture. People constantly complain about the actions of their bosses, justifiably so, but half the time it's framed as if the company is harming themselves. I used to work at Amazon and when I would relay horror stories, I would hear things like "They aren't gonna keep growing if they treat employees this way!"

The last example I can think of is congressional gridlock, government shutdowns, or any other political "Mommy and Daddy are fighting" scenario. There's this idea that when politicians stop performing their stated job duties it is an aberration of some kind. Granted, it has gotten more extreme in recent years, but there's this implied assumption that it's an aberration for politicians to act in self-interest or partisan interest, or that there's some kind of material incentive for them to do otherwise.

Is this a propaganda tactic? Do people just enjoy complaining or pretending powerful people are too stupid to act in their own interests? Is it battered woman syndrome on the level of a society?