Yup. They play people like violins by using "the good cop" (the Democratic Party) and "the bad cop" (the Republicans) to instill fear in 2 sets of confused and reactive voters.

Some people fear "the good cop". They are afraid that he will bring in socialism, "tax and spend", raise their taxes, coddle criminals and illegal immigrants, encourage abortion, take God off the dollar bill, weaken the military, etc..... (Hilarious. And pathetic.) Those people vote Republican because they deeply fear what the Democrats may do once in office. Their fear is based on a long tradition and a ceaseless flow of propaganda designed to encourage those fears.

Other people fear "the bad cop", the Republicans. They are afraid that he will privatize their public institutions, destroy Medicare, give away more money to the rich, persecute minorities, deny women their civil rights, increase draconian police powers, force schools to teach creationism, launch more insane wars overseas, etc... (SCARY!) Their fear is based on a long tradition and a ceaseless flow of propaganada designed to encourage those fears.

The "bad cop" can easily be swept into office by inflaming the right set of fears...specially the fear that the USA is not standing up to a dire "foreign threat", because the "bad cop" is so military in stance that he looks like George Patton addressing the troops.

However...the "bad cop" has a way of totally screwing things up sooooo badly if given the chance to wield power that presently the public realizes they've been had! Or at least a majority of them realize it. Then there is a rush to repudiate the "bad cop" and bring in the "good cop"...and we see a huge swing over to the Democrats. That happened in 2008.

Then the "good cop" proceeds to advance basically the same agenda that the "bad cop" is normally engaged in, but pretends not to be doing it. And the public is had once again. Presently they realize they've been had, and they kick the "good cop" out of office, and the "bad cop" returns, and the whole ugly business rolls on into its next stage of...

coddling the rich elite
destroying the middle class
abandoning the poor
encouraging public divisions over "hot" issues (like abortion and religion)
fighting unjust wars
building more prisons
increasing police powers and domestic surveillance

The "bad cop" does it openly and proudly. The "good cop" does it, but pretends not to be doing it. This is a game the public can't win at the ballot box, given the present means of financing political campaigns and lobbying in Washington.