Stop Using the Word Loyalty.

You insult the meaning of the word.

I always loved the latin, “Corruptio optimi pessima.” Corruption of the best is the worst. I take solace in the fact that these people in our government are the worst, always were, never the best. It gives me hope. But we must use the right language in describing them to give clarity to this moment. - Christine Merser

We have to stop using honorable words when describing Trump’s relationships. Or describing him at all. We give them and him a credibility they don’t deserve, and we blur the truth, we cloud the clarity around how his government actually functions.

Look at the word loyalty. Its roots matter.

“true or faithful in allegiance,” 1530s, in reference to subjects of sovereigns or governments, from French loyal, from Old French loial, leal “of good quality; faithful; honorable; law-abiding; legitimate, born in wedlock,” from Latin legalem, from lex “law.” Identical with legal, which maintains the Latin form; in most uses it has displaced Middle English leal, which is an older borrowing of the French word. For the twinning, compare royal/regal. Sense development in English is feudal, via notion of “faithful in carrying out legal obligations; conformable to the laws of honor.” In a general sense (of dogs, lovers, etc.), from c. 1600. As a noun meaning “those who are loyal” from 1530s (originally often in plural).

That is what the word means. That is what it carries.

So let’s look at his people.

Take Pete Hegseth. He wasn’t rising, he was falling. Pete Hegseth faced allegations of misconduct during his time at Fox News and in the period leading up to his 2025 nomination for Secretary of Defense, including reports of heavy drinking that impacted his work, a 2017 sexual assault accusation, and a 2016 incident at a company Christmas party. He had a reputation that had already begun to erode. No clear path forward. And then, suddenly, there is one path. One man. One system.

And the deal is simple. You say what I say. You do what I tell you. You defend me, no matter what. In return, you sit at the table of desserts. You get power. You get wealth. You can do whatever you want to fill your own coffers. You get people beneath you who now have to answer to you. Corruption? No worries.

That’s not loyalty. That’s a transaction.

And everyone around him understands it. They fall in line, or they fall out. They praise, they protect, they perform. For a while, it works. For a while, it feels like everything they wanted.

Ice cream at 9 PM while watching the last episode of something mindless. It feels good in the moment. We all know what comes next.

Look at the list. Pam Bondi. Rudy Giuliani. People already on the downslope, already compromised by their own decisions, their own behavior. They weren’t at the height of their careers. They were looking for a way back in.

And he offers it. Briefly.

Because this is not a two way street. There is no shared code. There is no honor being upheld. There is only usefulness. As long as you are useful, you are protected. The moment you are not, you are gone.

And sometimes, even when you are still useful, you are gone.

That’s the system.

So when journalists use the word loyalty, they elevate it. They make it sound like something it is not. They bring it into the language of honor, of allegiance, of something that belongs at my dinner table, in stories about family, about commitment, about standing by someone through something real.

It does not belong here.

This is a one way arrangement. You obey, you benefit, until you don’t. You are allowed to break rules, until the rules matter. And then you are the one who pays.

And Trump? He finally got the title he chased his entire life. President. The word used to carry weight, awe, history. It used to mean something beyond the man holding it.

Now it doesn’t. Not in the same way. Not after this.

So please, stop using the word loyalty anywhere near this. It doesn’t clarify what’s happening. It distorts it.

Call it what it is. Subservience.

Call him not President, but Dictator.