Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Kai Winn
9. For A Time, She Was Fiercely Anti-Cardassian - Even To Her Own Detriment
The second season of DS9 opens with a trilogy of episodes focusing on the attempted expulsion of Starfleet from the station. Spearheaded by Jaro Esso, played by Frank Langella, this was a push by ultra-conservative elements of the Bajoran government to 'Make Bajor Great Again.'
The episodes serve as a great depiction of Kira's growth - particularly in how hard she fights against this push, something unimaginable merely a season earlier. Yet this also shows that Winn, at least in this case, allows her hatred of Cardassians to overpower her political machinations.
When it is revealed that Esso was backed by Cardassians in his attempted coup, she immediately pulls away from the man she had so recently supported - both in terms of power-sharing, and with even a hint of romance. That's not to say that Winn's principals were the sole factor in this decision - her hatred of Cardassians certainly didn't blind her to the fact that, if it were revealed she was, however remotely, working with them - the people of Bajor would turn against her in a heartbeat.
This way, she got to live another day, and save face.