Do Politicians Actually Believe What They Run On?

President Trump has done a lot in his first 100 days so far, but none were more interesting in many ways than his first speech before a joint session of Congress. While many focused on the Democrats that sat out the 2 minute long applause for the fallen hero, it was much more intriguing to see Republicans applauding things that were not traditionally Republican and Democrats not quite knowing what to do.

Shika Dalmia argues that Trump has radically changed the GOP, but I’m not sure that’s the case. I think it’s more situational. When it’s your guy that’s President, you back what he says– especially because he won saying it. When it’s not your guy, you obstruct and resist everything.

Which points to the post title– I believe that while there are some politicians that actually believe what they run on (Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, and a few others come to mind), for the most part these people run on popular things to get elected. This isn’t going to be fixed by passing a bill with the right label to match what they said they believe. It will only be fixed by actually doing what they say they want to or are going to do.