Here is a very interesting development which may seem gossipy but goes to the heart of our story. The National Enquirer, which has emerged as a de facto arm of the Trump political operation, has a front page story this week attacking Michael Cohen’s “secrets and lies.” Given the relationship between Trump and the Enquirer, that’s a pretty clear indication that Trump is turning on his most loyal and obsequious servant.

Now a source close to Trump who spoke to CNN’s Jim Acosta is validating that interpretation. More importantly, when CNN asked Cohen what message he thought the Enquirer story was sending, he replied with a Cohenesque “What do you think?”

These are admittedly cryptic remarks. But the messages sent on both sides do not seem capable of much misunderstanding. I’ll note a point we’ve discussed earlier. From pretty much the moment of the raids on Cohen’s office and homes three weeks ago, Trump’s family members have assumed that he’ll turn on the President and cooperate with the Mueller probe. Trump has already sought to claim that he has little knowledge of Cohen or his various businesses and distanced himself from Cohen in other ways. And this comes after Trump legal advisors making gratuitously nasty comments about Cohen such as this one almost two weeks ago.

Former Trump lawyer and surrogate says Cohen will flip because prison has “racial overtones” and Cohen doesn’t want to be a mans wife. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/MywFNwCkXV — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 20, 2018

I have the sense that the Cohen loyalty drama may play out more rapidly than we imagine.