climb on the bandwagon

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climb on the bandwagon

To join, follow, or support someone or something only after it is successful or popular. I can't stand these people who just climb on the bandwagon after a win. Where were they last year when the team was terrible? A: "I thought your mom hated that candidate." B: "Well, he's the president now, so she's climbed on the bandwagon."

climb/jump on the ˈbandwagon

(informal, disapproving) do something that others are already doing because it is successful or fashionable: As soon as their policies became popular, all the other parties started to climb on the bandwagon.At political celebrations in the USA, there was often a band on a large decorated vehicle (= a bandwagon). If somebody joined a particular ‘bandwagon’, they publicly supported that politician in order to benefit from their success.

on the bandwagon, to get/climb/hop

To join the cause, movement, or party. The original bandwagon was a horse-drawn wagon bearing a brass band, used in a circus parade. In the second half of the nineteenth century such wagons began to be used in political campaigns as well, accompanying a candidate on speech-making tours. During William Jennings Bryan’s presidential campaign of 1900 the term began to be extended to mean supporting the movement itself. It also was used in Britain: “The Mirror . . . does not jump on bandwagons . . . it isn’t, never has been, and never will be a tin can tied to a political party’s tail” (Daily Mirror, 1966; cited by William Safire).