Running for president does funny things to people, and that has certainly been the case for Scott Walker. The Wisconsin governor became a rock star on the right for his ability to take on labor unions and the organized national Left to implement conservative reforms. That coupled with the fact that he was able to win three elections in four years in the blue state of Wisconsin (despite all the resources put into defeating him) made him a formidable 2016 presidential candidate.

But since emerging as a frontrunner for the Republican nomination, he’s shed his image of standing up on principle and replaced it with a pattern of pandering that’s increasingly inexplicable.