Good Thursday morning, I'm Anna Palmer, and welcome to your Politico Playbook audio briefing, sponsored by ExxonMobil.

And I'm Jake Sherman. Welcome to the me, me, me, era in politics. Let's break it down. First, you have

California Congressman Duncan Hunter, who's been indicted on charges that he used his campaign account like a piggy bank.

Prosecutors alleged he spent freely on everything from hotels to family vacations to Italy. Not only is he not stepping aside, he's saying he's running for re-election and even vows to fight Republicans forcing a contentious vote on whether he could serve on his committees while he's under indictment. Then there's New York Congressman Chris Collins. It's not enough that he's worth tens of millions of dollars. It's not enough that he has a direct line to the president of the United States, but Collins decided he would sit on a

board of a publicly traded company while also sitting on a committee that regulates that company.

When he got indicted on insider trading charges, he decided he'd stick around Congress even though he's

foregoing a re-election bid. Republicans have a Nazi running in Illinois, despite the fact that he'll certainly lose.

Roy Moore ran and lost in Alabama, despite gruesome allegations of sexual misconduct.

And on the Democratic side, House leadership refuses to even allow conversations about stepping aside,

despite dozens of Democrats who say they want a shot at the top of the party.

And Speaker Paul Ryan announced he would resign in the middle of a congressional session,

despite a growing narrative that Republicans were in electoral peril.

And of course, there's Senator Bernie Sanders.

Democrats have criticized him for dragging

the 2016 primary out for far too long. Now, the party fears he's dragging the political dialogue

too far to the left, supporting candidates who will lose in the general election or forcing

moderate Democrats to take positions out of step with their districts.

For generations, there was a party before self ethos in politics. In a scandal, step aside.

Skeletons in the closet don't run. Your time is up, move on. But there's been a creeping sense

of self that seems more pervasive in contemporary politics. There is perhaps no better example of

that than Donald Trump, who has ignored calls

from his party's poobos to talk relentlessly about tax reform and a brightening economy and

...