Modern-day conservative politics is deeply populated with those who have demonstrated fierce and unmistakable allegiance toward Donald Trump.

These backers offer their support with the expectation Trump would reward such loyalty, who instead doesn’t hesistate to throw them to the wolves when they need his support the most.

At this point, it’s a long list of Republicans, including Mike Pence, Kevin McCarthy, Reince Priebus, Mo Brooks, and Ronna McDaniel. They all suffered from the same realization: Loyalty is something Trump expects to receive, not reciprocate.

You can add Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to the list of politically jilted allies. Stefanik, who recently and unexpectedly announced her retirement, was previously known for her moderate positions and bipartisan approach in Congress. She made the opportunistic calculation that to forge forward in Republican politics, she had to abandon and sacrifice her principles and embrace the draconian values and philosophy of the far right. By the end of Trump’s first term in 2020, she professed a persona as a partisan right winger and MAGA Trump supporter.

Her Faustian-like transformation certainly benefitted her career. Republican lawmakers ousted then-House Republican Conference leader Liz Cheney and rewarded Stefanik with the position after Cheney demanded American democracy be supported by defending the legitimacy of election results.

A couple 0f years ago there was serious conversation about Stefanik being considered as a running mate to Trump. It was at this juncture Stefanik further engaged in more reactionary theatrics, abandoning previous principled positions she was genuinely committed to.

Who can forget the searing committee hearing in which she disingenuously alluded that former university presidents Claudine Gay of Harvard, Elizabeth McGill of the University of Pennsylvania, and Sally Kornbluth, currently president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is Jewish herself, tolerated and perhaps supported anti-Semitism on their campuses. Mind you, this was the same Elise Stefanik who latched onto the the “great replacement theory,” a late 19th-century doctrine that argues that Jews and certain specific Western elites are conspiring to replace white Americans and Europeans with people of non-European descent, particularly Asians and Africans.

Given the fact Stefanik had the audacity to accuse these individuals of supporting such a historically despicable cancer as anti-Semitism, while she herself subscribed to such an abominable belief, was nothing short of arrogant and obscene.

Most of us remember when Trump nominated her to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in his second term. But he later withdrew the nomination in an effort to secure her vote as political insurance for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Consequently, Stefanik lost her spot in the House leadership, which she had given up to take the U.N. post, and was rewarded with a ceremonial leadership position instead.

Again, when the congresswoman declared a gubernatorial campaign, the political calculus among the pundit class was that she would receive an endorsement from the president, for whom she went out of her way to engage in such a disturbing and ample degree of intellectual dishonesty to support. Guess what? Such an endorsement was not forthcoming! Trump held his cards close to his vest, a party primary rival entered the scene, and the president’s noncommittal stance made Stefanik’s journey to the governor’s mansion considerably more arduous.

To add insult to previous political injury, during a White House event with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, the president also publicly undermined her. “Commie Mamdani,” the president’s derogatory term for the incoming mayor,  was suddenly a wonderful person, thus undercutting Stefanik’s attempt to associate current governor Kathy Hochul with the supposedly “socialist/communist” Mamdani.

Public personal slights aside, Stefanik is just 41 years old, a considerably young age for politics. If she were a Democrat, she would be an infant. Thus, there is no reason why she could not return to the political arena at some point down the road. New York state politics looks pretty fluid at the moment. The possibility of running for the Senate in 2028 or governor in 2030 are feasible possibilities.

Nonetheless, Stefanik’s current state of affairs is a grim reminder of how quickly, and without hesitation, President Trump will often cast aside allies when they are no longer of use to his agenda.

Perhaps Stefanik will step back, do some serious soul searching, and determine that such opportunistic behavior resulted in little more than public humiliation. Perhaps others who are tempted to sacrifice their core principles for political expediency should take heed.

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Copyright 2025 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.