In a development political scientists are now referring to as “quantum politics,” Pennsylvania Democratic House candidate and part-time firefighter Bob Brooks baffled voters and theorists alike this week by publicly slamming the Trump overtime tax break—just moments after his own national firefighters union delivered an impassioned love letter to the policy.

Brooks, speaking on the Scranton-based podcast ‘Fireside Chats with Chad,’ described the widely popular overtime tax break as “a cruel joke” and “something only someone who’s never fought a five-alarm inferno while balancing a mortgage could support.” However, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) released a statement Thursday, hailing the tax break as “the best thing to happen to firemen since the invention of water.”

Republican opponent Greta Biggums wasted no time. “Bob Brooks wants to have his overtime cake and set it on fire, too,” she said at a campaign event held inside a burning barn for added effect. “Is he with working people, or with the people who inexplicably hate overtime?”

Brooks’s campaign spokesperson, Melody Hatch, issued a clarifying statement: “Bob is proud to support the union’s leadership, except when he doesn’t, and he’ll continue both supporting and opposing this provision as long as necessary.”

Meanwhile, voters appear unfazed. Local constituent Hank ‘Smokey’ Dawes told reporters, “I actually thought all politicians were required to flip flop by law. Next he’ll be telling me firefighters like water.”