Why People Change Their Tune: What Marco Rubio, LBJ, and the Rest of Us Reveal About Power, Identity, and Being Human

A Soft Heart, Hard Road Essay

Every once in a while, I see something online that makes me freeze — not because it’s shocking, but because it’s a perfect snapshot of a human truth that we usually ignore.

A few days ago, it was Dawn Neufeld’s quote tweet aimed at Marco Rubio.

Rubio had reposted the State Department announcing the renaming of the Institute of Peace to honor Donald Trump, calling him “the President of Peace.” Dawn’s reply was simple:

“You need to be studied.”

It wasn’t political. It wasn’t even angry. It was observational — like a biologist seeing an animal do something unexpected in the wild.

And she’s not wrong.
Rubio does deserve to be studied.
Not judged. Not mocked. Not psychoanalyzed on cable news.
Studied.

Because what’s happening here — and with a lot of politicians across the spectrum — is not just about Trump, or any one person. It’s about what humans do when identity, power, fear, ambition, and belonging collide.

And honestly?
It’s one of the most fascinating psychological patterns of our time.

But here’s the thing:

If you take Trump out of the conversation, you’ll notice it immediately. Because we’ve seen this exact behavior before — clear as day — in Lyndon B. Johnson’s Democratic Party.

And that’s the version I want to explore, because it lets us talk about the phenomenon without being trapped inside today’s noise.

LBJ: The Original Case Study in Rapid, Total Alignment

When Lyndon Johnson became president in 1963, the Democratic Party didn’t just follow him — it rearranged itself around him.

Not gradually.
Not reluctantly.
But with stunning speed and intensity.

Johnson was a master of pressure, persuasion, and power — “The Johnson Treatment.”
If he wanted something, the tides of Washington began moving immediately.

Senators who privately disagreed with him would walk out of the Oval Office suddenly convinced — or appearing convinced — that his position had been their position all along.

Those who had questioned him publicly in the past found themselves shifting tone:
praising, reframing, justifying, adapting.

Why?
Because LBJ wasn’t just a person. He was an ecosystem.
And ecosystems survive by aligning with their dominant force.

The lesson isn’t about Johnson’s policies. It’s about human nature.

People shift dramatically when their tribe, identity, future ambitions, and survival all depend on it.

Rubio is not an anomaly.
He’s a modern iteration of a very old dance.

The Psychology Behind the “Complete Turnaround”

Whenever someone like Marco Rubio — or any public figure — seems to radically transform their stance toward a leader they once criticized, four psychological engines are usually working beneath the surface.

1. Identity > Ideology

Humans don’t protect their beliefs as much as they protect their belonging.
LBJ’s Democrats belonged to the Johnson machine.
Rubio belongs to the Republican base — and the base belongs to Trump.

People follow the gravitational pull of their tribe, not the logic of their past statements.

2. Incentives Shift, and People Shift With Them

In 2016, Rubio had no incentive to praise Trump.
In 2025, nearly every incentive in his political universe pushes him toward alignment.

Same happened in LBJ’s era.

This is not weakness. It’s survival.

3. Reputational Capture

Once you lean in — even a little — it becomes very costly to lean back out.

LBJ exploited this expertly.
Trump does, too.
Any strong leader does.

4. Cognitive Dissonance

When actions and past beliefs clash, humans rewrite the narrative to relieve the tension.

This isn’t lying.
It’s adaptation.

The mind reaches for a story that feels coherent, even if the story has changed.

Why I Find This So Interesting (And Why I Think It Matters)

There’s something genuinely human in this. Something that goes way beyond politics.

Every one of us has been in situations where:

• we adjusted ourselves to avoid conflict

• we aligned with a group even when it felt uncomfortable

• we softened or shifted our stance to maintain peace

• we rewrote our own story to make our choices feel cleaner

We like to think we’re independent thinkers, unmoved by pressure or belonging.

But belonging has gravity.

And public life — whether it’s politics, business, church, or a friend group — only increases that weight.

What looks like hypocrisy from the outside often feels like necessity from the inside.

Rubio isn’t “weird.”
He’s doing what humans do when the cost of honesty becomes too high.

LBJ’s Democrats did it.
Nixon’s Republicans did it.
All political ecosystems do it.
And honestly, all social ecosystems do it.

We just notice it more when the stage is big and the stakes feel personal.

Why This Belongs in a “Soft Heart, Hard Road” Blog

Because compassion doesn’t mean approving of behavior.
It means understanding it.

And understanding this pattern doesn’t require taking a side.

It requires noticing how fragile and powerful the human need for belonging really is.

And maybe asking ourselves:

• Where do we bend to keep the peace?

• When do we rewrite our own stories to fit in?

• How often do we choose identity over integrity without realizing it?

Not to shame ourselves.
But to see ourselves clearly.

Dawn’s comment — “you need to be studied” — wasn’t an insult.

It was an invitation.

Not just to study Rubio.

But to study this part of the human condition.

The part that wants to survive.
The part that wants to belong.
The part that wants certainty in an uncertain world.

A soft heart sees the humanity in that.
A hard road reminds us how easy it is to lose ourselves along the way.

Maybe the work — for all of us — is staying awake to our own stories, even as the ecosystem shifts beneath our feet.