I don't see Jerusalem as a trophy personally. A city of great historic and religious importance certainly, being the reason it is so fought over, but not a trophy. And no trophy I can think of has any sort of political value. A trophy is simply reward for a specific achievement. The Matrix is no reward in this case. It was stolen by Megatron and then Starscream stumbled into possession of it. Being as how Optimus is the 'chosen one' by the Matrix itself, he is the only one that can truely claim it.
Trophies are traditionally taken or claimed. (Think of sports as a proxy for real confict, unless you are an English Football fan, in which case it is less a proxy and more actual conflict.) The trophy is a tangible representation of the concept of victory.
Jerusalem's religious, political and historic value is why it is fought over. It value makes it a nice jewel in the crown of who ever happens to control it. It would feel good to have rather than actually being materially good to have. Some cities are materially worth fighting for, as they offer control of water ways or some other resource. Jerusalem's chief value is symbolic. Outside of Hobbesian warfare, people are more likely to fight for symbolic reasons than for practical ones.
The Matrix has political and historic value. (There is likely also some religious value to it.) Yes, those are primarily symbolic things, but the can be used to motivate others. In other words, The Matrix has "look what I got" value. Optimus may have legal and moral right ot the Matrix. But, Starscream has it in hand, and thus has the opportunity to exploit the fact the Matrix has the above mentioned value.
The difference with Megatron is that he actually is the Decepticons tried and true leader. The Decepticon army has pledged themselves to his command. Starscream has not earned that. Appeasing the Decepticons will not prevent them from removing him from leadership once they know it was all a lie. Leadership is something that must be earned with the Decepticons, not cheated.
But, most of the Decepticons do not seem to care about the faction's ideals. Skywarp had a simpleton's patriotism, and even he was bored during Megatron's speech in issue...4(?). At the end of the day, the Decepticons just want to be busy with something. If Starscream could manage to keep them busy, (maybe framing Razorclaw and co as a new other), he could do pretty well. This does not mean a sensible person would want the job. But, if you had the job, it would be conceptually easy to keep.
Caught with what?
Caught with their hands in the cookie jar, or booze in their bellies.
As I said before, it does depend on the severity of their actions. Look at President Clinton for example and his lies surrounding the affair he had while in office. He was Impeached for that and was nearly voted out of office and to this day he is still highly scrutinized for that incident. There are always consequences. Anytime such news reaches the press, it's serious business.
The press is less an issue than public opinion though.
In the case of local guys, it is very easy to keep public opinion favorable by being a nice guy, shaking some hands, and talking to residents (who are probably your neighbors) about their concerns. Throw in some patronage, (not as much in the past as some would think), and support is easy enough to maintain.
Clinton actually illustrates my point. Yeah, he got impeached. "Impeachment" is basically a fancy term for "put on trial". He was not convicted, because he had a partisan majority who stood with him. Public opinion was consistently favorable in part because things were going well. Nobody *cared* that Clinton messed around because it was the 90s, and life was a party. The economy was good. Heck, I was a partisan conservative at the time, and I really did not care. (Oh, the impeachment was fun certainly. The news was fun to watch and comment on. But, at a basic level, I did not really care.)
Clinton was not "nearly voted out". If he was convicted, (unlikely with the partisan breakdown and public opinion polls), he would have been in trouble. But, he was not, and it was unlikely that he would have been. It may not have been fun for him. But, the practical impact was minimal. He actually polls pretty highly now, and many people look back on his administration fondly. (You do not have to like the guy, but man is he smooth.)
Dom
-would still vote for Shockwave.
