Yet Zhirinovsky always emerges unscathed. More than once, sometimes several times a day, Zhirinovsky contradicts himself by changing his position on a given issue. Yet this has not damaged his reputation. He has been pardoned for all his disreputable acts and has successfully exited all awkward situations just like Ivan the Fool, the famous hero of Russian folk tales. Sincerity, of course, is not to be expected from politicians.
All politicians deceive the public in one way or another, especially during election campaigns.
However, they usually try to avoid telling blatant lies. Zhirinovsky has no sense of such bounds, nor does he want one. For Zhirinovsky, there are no taboos, no moral limits, no principles, and no convictions. And in this lies his success. Zhirinovsky's power is rooted in the helplessness of his opponents.