right out of the commie playbook.
What good is the carrot if the mule doesn't like carrots?
Hence, the stick to provide incentive from the other end.
Recall Hillary had over 900 FBI raw data files on 'leading' Republicans, and with the NSA's snooping, the rest is filled in on those who have risen in the ranks since.
Either one is so squeaky clean they'd make sainthood, or there is some dirt, somewhere (or something that can be made to look like dirt) to use as the stick.
The carrot, of course, is continued prestige, power, and the promise of wealth (not many po' folk on Capitol Hill).
In this day and age, there are few who couldn't be Alinsky'd with the dirt (or appearance thereof), and fewer still who wouldn't sell out.
Statesmen are an endangered species.