“The president remembers loyalty, there’s no question—and Gen. Flynn was loyal early on,” said Jeff Lord, a former CNN commentator and an early political supporter of Trump’s. “Anybody who sticks up for Donald Trump, he will remember it. He’s very good at that.” Lord should know. In June 2013, he authored a pro-Trump American Spectator column—an article Trump read and remembered and for which he has kept Lord in his good graces even up until today.
But there is also recognition that Flynn’s one-of-the-gang status could vanish in the span of a news cycle. Two sources close to the president recall different instances in the last year when Trump would grill them on the latest Flynn news and ask them questions in ways that made clear that the president had his guarded suspicions that Flynn could turn on him. Three other people who speak often with the president say that what Trump often tells them in private mirrors closely what they see on Twitter—that he believes Flynn is a victim and a patriot, and someone who will keep strong and loyal when the chips are down.
“That could all go to hell pretty damn quick,” one of these three Trump associates conceded.
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