Good cop/bad cop politics

About

Good cop/bad cop politics is a hypothesized behavior of politicians in ostensibly opposing parties. It is named after the good cop/bad cop police interrogation technique.

It is carried out as follows:

• Politicians in the "bad cop" party are consistently dishonest and do a terrible job at governing, but are able to remain in power through keeping their malfeasances subtle enough to evade the notice of many voters, while using their ill-gotten gains on paid publicity to help maintain the appearance of good job performance.
• Politicians in the "good cop" party consistently play lip-service towards supporting needed legislation, but always manage to somehow undermine legislation with any potential for real change.

This effectively prevents a third party from having a chance, as a rational voter will recognize the threat posed by allowing the "bad cop" politicians to gain too much power.