Some people have tried to argue that the cheating is definitive proof the regulations were too hard, and so obviously emissions regulations should all be scrapped.

I really don't understand how one can make this argument. No one argues that we should do away with taxes completely just because some people cheat and pay less than they should.

If anything, widespread cheating shows the importance of regulations. It shows that companies are willing to lie to both regulators and the public. For something that is extremely difficult for the consumer to test themselves like emissions, it shows that an independent regulator is required to keep companies honest.

As far as I can tell, it's pretty simple- they've always been ideologically opposed to emissions regulations, so every headline is bent to accommodate that perspective.

VAG deliberately programmed around the tests (a defeat device). It's not that VAG sent a car to the test but the test just didn't test regular driving VAG deliberately changed the results for cars under test.

I meant "true" as in "what actually happens in the real world" and not "the opposite of fake". You are certainly right that the emissions themselves weren't faked, just that the car behaved differently in the tests compared to what happens in the real world.