They are not idiots. Inflation was always the goal, it is not some side effect. Regarding the "jobs" lost... well, that is because most jobs are completely meaningless and people know it. Especially most white collar ones. People were there only for the paycheck.
That might have explained why people wouldn't accept jobs at the hight of COVID, somewhat, doesn't really explain why people wouldn't accept jobs now. The stimulus money is long gone. The federal pandemic unemployment ended Sep 6th. Food stamps have been around for years. The child tax credit went up to $3,000, not $4,000 and if you think the cost to raise a child is less than $3,000 (or even $4,000) you've clearly never had children! At no point did all the money coming from stimulus programs allow a family of 4 to put money into savings, it was still poverty level income, so they're not living off some mythical money put aside from the vast riches the government showered on them. Most damning to those talking points, however, are the labor participation numbers. They just don't bear out the whole "poor people are lazy and won't look for jobs because they like living on the dole" trope.