Trump famously said that he prefers loyalty to integrity. To some extent, this just sounds like he favors honor among thieves. Except that to Trump, loyalty is a one-way street -- something other people owe him, while he never hesitates to throw a "coffee boy" under the bus any time he becomes inconvenient. What he really wants is not loyalty, but fealty.
ETTD means that in order to work for Trump, you have to set aside all integrity in favor of fealty to Trump. But sooner or later, everyone fails to live up to Trump's standards and is cast aside. And they find that they are ruined outside Trumpworld because they have given up all integrity and ruined in Trumpworld because they no longer have the Big Guy's support.
None of which is to say that choosing integrity over Trump is any guarantee of success. Bob Corker (Republican Senator from Tennessee) and Jeff Flake (Republican Senator from Arizona) sacrificed their careers rather than submit to Trump and have no future.
The best bet may be to be rejected by Trump. Chris Christie hoped to be Trump's chief of staff. Jared Kushner intervened to block him. Now Christie retains some degree of respectability.
But the more obvious example is Mitt Romney. The illustration above shows Romney meeting with Trump in hopes of being appointed his Secretary of State. Who can doubt that if Trump had said yes, Romney would have made one compromise in integrity after another and end up realizing that he had lost his soul -- only to be cast aside anyhow when Trump had no more use for him. Doubtless Romney was disappointed at being turned down. But how many time since must he have thanked his Mormon God that Trump said no, and Romney escaped with his soul intact.
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