Voting Huggy (EDH / Commander)

I play with a group who are petrified of pillowfort cards, I found that the moment I played my second pillowfort-esque card they would work themselves up into being scared of seeing more and would ultimately target me more as a result.
Consequently I try to play lots of cards that make it easy to politic, before I play cards I'll converse with the table about what I'm going to do or alternatively what they want me to do. The friend/foe cards are pretty bad but people like to be called "friend" even there aren't a ton of benefits so it taps into that psychological element. I've tried to push a voting theme which is building on the idea of my playgroup being involved in my plays, it may be my card that was the board wipe but I didn't vote for it which creates some sweet political wiggle room.

I think the mindset of playing hug is vital to the strategy of the deck, whenever I pick up my hug deck I do so not expecting to win but knowing I'll be crucial in seeing someone else win. Playing across from this deck allows people to play the deck faster and with a higher ceiling than normal which is what makes a hug player desirable, if you're angling for a win then it's harder to let others reach their full potential because you're trying to reach 'your' own potential first.

However, there have been scenarios where I needed to close out the game because everyone else had exhausted their resources and I needed to capitalise on successful politics. That's why I chose Cromat as my commander, previously I was using Kynaios and Tiro of Meletis (but I wanted the good black vote cards) but I could also have chosen the recently insane Esika, God of The Tree, yet I've really warmed to Cromat because of how versatile he is. He's incredibly sticky making him extremely hard to remove so I rarely have to recast him and if I do it's not with the commander tax, furthermore in the late game I can capitalise on all our extra mana to make him huge and push for a win but because I can't give him haste it's less scary and feels more fair from my opponents perspective should I win.

TLDR: If I set out to play a hug deck and help everyone (in my opinion) it leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth if they trust me and don't target me (because I'm helping them) only to capitalise on an unchecked board with some explosive bombs they didn't see coming.

Note to Self: With all the hug cards that keep getting printed there is a world where I would slot Jegantha, the Wellspring into the companion slot however the cards that prevent me from switching are Council's Judgment, Braids, Conjurer Adept, Devastating Mastery, Dawnbreak Reclaimer and Tragic Arrogance. The pay off of having Jegantha is gimmicky and unlikely to be worth it however there is likely to be a future wherein there are reasonable substitutes for these cards and Jegantha would be a less costly gimmick.