Hypocrisy

Promised to eliminate the national debt, then signed tax legislation projected to add nearly $2 trillion to it, and the deficit surpassed $3 trillion by 2020

Voted against federal disaster relief for other states citing fiscal concerns, then sought the same type of relief when his own state was affected. Fact-checkers debunked his claim that two-thirds of the Sandy bill was pork

Made an explicit, repeated campaign promise not to cut Medicaid, then supported legislation that would have cut it by $880 billion

Warned Democrats they would regret changing filibuster rules, then expanded those same rule changes further when it was politically convenient for Republicans to confirm a Supreme Court justice

Republicans demanded accountability for drone strike civilian casualties under Obama, then went silent when Trump loosened the rules of engagement and civilian casualties increased

Spent years calling executive orders unconstitutional overreach under Obama, then celebrated more extensive executive action under Trump with no principled distinction

Made definitive, repeated statements about leaving the Senate, then reversed within months with no compelling change in circumstances

Campaigned explicitly on Christian family values and moral leadership while conducting an extramarital affair with a political adviser and allegedly using state resources to conceal it

Took diametrically opposed positions on the minimum wage within months, depending on the audience and political moment

Clinton only began acknowledging her Iraq vote as a mistake when it became politically necessary for her presidential campaigns, after years of defending or deflecting

Democrats passionately defended the judicial filibuster when they were using it to block Bush nominees, then eliminated it when Republicans used the same tool against Obama nominees

Passionately defended the filibuster for judicial nominees when it benefited Democrats, then eliminated it when Democrats controlled the Senate and Republicans were the ones filibustering

Democrats attacked Bush's surveillance programs as unconstitutional, then defended similar or expanded programs under Obama, with public opinion among Democrats shifting based on which party occupied the White House

Campaigned on limiting presidential war powers and criticizing Bush's approach to the war on terror, then expanded executive military action far beyond what Bush had done, including authorizing extrajudicial killing of American citizens

Led a years-long campaign questioning Obama's birthplace, then abruptly reversed with no apology or explanation when it became politically necessary for the general election

Voted for DOMA which explicitly defined marriage as heterosexual, then became one of the most prominent champions of same-sex marriage, eventually signing the Respect for Marriage Act that repealed DOMA

Romney championed the individual mandate at the state level, and the ACA was explicitly modeled on his Massachusetts law with help from his own advisers, yet he campaigned on repealing the federal version of his own policy

Supported anti-insider-trading legislation for Congress while her family's trading patterns appeared to benefit from her position, including receiving IPO access while related legislation was pending

Built an entire political career on opposing LGBTQ rights while privately engaging in the same behavior he legislated against, weaponizing anti-gay sentiment for political gain

Positioned himself as the world's leading advocate for reducing carbon emissions while maintaining one of the largest personal carbon footprints in American politics, including a mansion using 20x the national average electricity

Complete reversal on one of the most fundamental political positions, with the change conveniently aligning with the audience he needed to appeal to (Massachusetts voters vs. Republican primary voters)

Championed legislation to protect children from sexual predators while simultaneously engaging in sexually predatory behavior toward underage Congressional pages

Kerry voted to authorize the Iraq War, then ran for president as an anti-war candidate, and his own words crystallized the contradiction: voting for something before voting against it

The party of limited government and individual liberty championed one of the largest expansions of government surveillance power in history, applying different standards of government intrusion to national security vs. economic regulation

Led the impeachment of a president for lying about an extramarital affair while simultaneously conducting his own extramarital affair with a congressional staffer 23 years his junior

Cultivated a public image as a devoted family man for political benefit while conducting an extramarital affair in the White House, then lied about it publicly and under oath