From nojo at Stinque:
Mattis had been part of the Deal, the deal establishment Republicans had made to accept Trump as their leader: They could have everything they wanted, and the grownups would keep him out of trouble. Only now the deal was off, the grownups were gone, and suddenly they were fearing what the rest of us had feared from the start, that an insane, malevolent force was running our country.
But they did not fear for our country. They feared for themselves. But still, they feared.
Their fears are not our fears. They made their deal, they reaped the benefits.
Our fear is that Trump’s weakness has been revealed, his true nature, the complete absence of anything at all in him, and how easily that can be exploited. Our fear is that those who hold power over him haven’t recognized the power they hold, that they are not supplicants, but masters, that he needs them more than they need him.