Pardon us, but was it only three weeks ago that President Trump expressed “such respect” for Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman and freshly minted felon, who had refused to cooperate with the special counsel’s office and took his federal bank- and tax-fraud conviction like a “brave man ”?

That tribute was meant to highlight the president’s contempt for the decision by his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to plead guilty that same day to his own charges of bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign-finance violations. Unlike the weak Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter, Mr. Manafort “refused to ‘break’ — make up stories in order to get a ‘deal.’”

So much for that. Mr. Trump’s expectation that there is any honor among thieves has been confounded once again.

On Friday, Mr. Manafort broke in a big way — agreeing to cooperate “fully, truthfully, completely, and forthrightly” regarding “any and all matters” the special counsel, Robert Mueller, wants him to.