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Dismay, shock, fury – just a few of the headline words which have greeted Donald Trump’s appointments to key positions this week. They’re the more polite ones.

A lawyer who served in the White House during his first presidency described the man who’ll be attorney general, as ‘simply unqualified…academically, professionally, ethically, morally and experientially.’

The person who’ll be overseeing a vast network including the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency is said to have no experience in this area: she’ll be director of national intelligence. And on it goes.

Whatever qualities these and other candidates possess, or lack, one appears above all to make them irresistibly attractive to the man in charge – loyalty: they’ll be his people, subscribing to his agenda, committed to doing his bidding. From taxation and health care to securing the borders, returning the migrants and shaping international relations, they’ll know what he wants, and know too that remaining in favour will depend on delivery. After all, 76 million Americans voted for Donald Trump to deliver.

No different to many other governments around the world, maybe, whether they see themselves as bastions of democratic freedoms, or shameless in their naked tyranny. Whoever is at the top needs to know that those who cluster most closely can be trusted, prizes their loyalty, sometimes above their competence or integrity.

And yes, that can happen at much more modest levels – a parish council, parent-teacher association, sports club, church – sometimes absurdly, sometimes tragically. In any place where important decisions are made, a key question is always, who will speak truth to power, offer the alternative view, point out when necessary that the emperor has no clothes?

Some of my greatest heroes have been those who’ve done exactly that; and their successors around the world today who too often languish behind bars because they’ve refused to stay silent. Their concern for truth and justice has overruled fears for their own safety.

For religious believers, the primary loyalty is meant to be to God. The conviction is that the one who gives us life, sustains that life, and sets out its purpose deserves a faithful response in the way we treat the world and everyone in it. For Christians in particular, that offers in Jesus a model of love, service and sacrifice – and a relationship which extends way beyond the limits of time and space.

As for other loyalties – to family, friends, community, country - they all have their place, of course. But none can be absolute. ‘The love that asks no questions’ can too easily be a cop out. Speaking truth to power can be dangerous. But ultimately it reveals a deeper loyalty.

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