Over the last few years, it has dawned on me that the absolute hatred shown to Judge Roy Moore when he ran for the Senate Seat in Alabama, with all the big guns in the country trying to stop him, was because they knew they would never be able to use these tactics on him, and therefore would never be able to blackmail him.
I have read that J Edgar Hoover kept files on every member of congress, and he could get anything he wanted from them. He could effectively threaten them with prosecution whenever he felt like it, so they would simply vote however he told them to vote.
I think this system of blackmail has been in place for a very long time. I cannot think of any other explanation as to why people go to congress with good intentions, and then are quickly taken over by DC and start voting the way the Democrats want.
It has happened too many times to be a coincidence. There is some sort of corruption going on in DC, and blackmail explains what we see quite well.
Probably a very old tactic now using modern technology