Ex post facto reasoning is when you try to explain something after the fact, which makes what was in reality an irrational position seem rational in hindsight. This is a common face saving technique, and is also often used to gaslight people for political purposes. I saw a funny example today:

What really happened: Rand Paul called out Dr. Fausti regarding the latter's direct connections to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Not forty eight hours later, the CDC did a complete u-turn, telling people to not wear masks, which in turn caused Minnesota's Dim Tim Walz to loosen the state's WuFlu restrictions.

Local establishment's explanation (italics are mine): "In Minnesota, we are continuing to see a loosening of restrictions as vaccination rates increase and COVID-19 community spread decreases. As a result, we have decided to begin our partial reopening... on Monday, June 7, approximately one month earlier than originally planned."