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
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”