The politician

In the movie Taxi Driver relationship between Travis and the Politician Charles Palentine is completely controlled by that between Travis and Betsy. In the first portion (of four I which will address), we see Travis with no political motivation. This is the short portion of the movie when our protagonist has not yet seen his damsel, Betsy. All Travis knows is that the city is a dirty place full of dirty people, and he wants it clean - but nothing about politics. It's only after he sees Palentine's face all over her workplace that he decides he is in favor of anything he has to say. He even recognizes Palentine and tells him that he's in favor of his policies, but has absolutely no idea what they are. Then, after his one bad date with the fabulous Betsy, palentine becomes clearly displayed as a target. Travis attends his speech, and Palentine is dehumanized by not having his face shown. His policies are spoken over by a letter written from Travis to his parents, and only the people surrounding him's faces (mostly guards) are shown. While ideas about cleaning up the city are no different, his idea about Palentine's policies seem to vary quite a lot. Once he becomes a hero, betsy falls back into his arms, he is once again in favor of these (still) mysterious policies. It's not hard to tell that Travis is easy to influence, as it seems any small detail seems to control his life. Another example would be when he drops off that one angry "cuckold" who wants to blast his wife's vagina. Travis, who is also angry, decides to go out and immediately drop a couple hundred dollars on guns, so that he too can claim his "revenge" on the world. Interesting though, why he decided to stay in a city full of grime and hatred and let it control him, rather than to just leave.