Tag: one-way loyalty

Opinion: Lessons in Loyalty From John McCain and That Other Guy

The following opinion column by Patricia Murphy was posted on the Roll Call website July 26, 2017:

For Trump, loyalty is a one-way street

Personal loyalty has always been President Donald Trump’s measure of any man, but it has never been reciprocal, Murphy writes. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Washington has always been driven by loyalties. Staffers are expected to be loyal to their bosses. Their bosses are expected to be loyal to their districts and states. And the president, as the chief executive, is expected to be loyal to the country above all else.

But expectations in D.C. are rarely realities and in Donald Trump’s worldview, loyalty is a special brand of currency.

So it’s no surprise that the high drama that unfolded in Washington on Tuesday as the Senate voted to open debate on health care reform was as much a lesson in loyalties as it was a debate on health care policy, as the future of Obamacare hung on a single vote and the future of Trump’s presidency continued to be dragged down by crises of his own construction. Continue reading “Opinion: Lessons in Loyalty From John McCain and That Other Guy”

Sessions learns loyalty can be a one-way street with Trump

The following article by Abby Phillip was posted on the Washington Post website July 20, 2017:

The Debrief: An occasional series offering a reporter’s insights

Nothing is more important to President Trump than loyalty — to him.

In business and in politics, he has demanded it from the people closest to him. Some employees who abandoned him were never welcomed back. Politicians who did not defend him after the most politically damaging moments of the 2016 campaign are still suspect in his eyes. And after six months as president, Trump is still known to publicly jab at people who did not support his presidential bid.

But as Attorney General Jeff Sessions learned this week, the loyalty Trump expects isn’t always reciprocated. Continue reading “Sessions learns loyalty can be a one-way street with Trump”