Timothy L. O'Brien, Columnist

Trump Learns the Cost of One-Way Loyalty

Wasn’t Michael Cohen the guy who said he’d take a bullet for the president? Yes, but that was then.

August 22, 2018 at 3:53 PM UTC

Timothy L. O'Brien is senior executive editor of Bloomberg Opinion. A former editor and reporter for the New York Times, he is author of “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.”

He’s not the only guy having a bad day.
Photographer: Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg

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This article is part of the August 27, 2018 issue of businessweek.

“I’m going to surround myself only with the best and most serious people. We want top-of-the-line professionals.” — Donald Trump, Aug. 8, 2015.

In life, business, and now politics, the president of the United States has treated loyalty as a one-sided affair, something he expects from others but has rarely doled out to anyone but his closest family members.