diminished by association with Trump

From a transcript of last nights PBS Newshour (scroll down) and the commentary segment by columnists Mark Shields and David Brooks.

[MARK SHIELDS] ... But everybody, I can honestly say, with rare exception, who has been associated with this administration and this president has been diminished by it.
Their reputation has been tarnished. They’re smaller people as a result of it. And that’s tragic.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Does it give you a glimpse into the state of Twitter?

DAVID BROOKS: Yes. Well, that’s the exact point I was going to make.
Yes, I can’t think of anybody whose reputation has been enhanced by going into the Trump administration. Rex Tillerson was a serious businessman, well-respected. Jeff Sessions was a serious senator, pretty conservative, quite serious. Sean Spicer was a normal communications guy in Congress — or in Washington.
So he’s like an anti-mentor. He takes everybody around him and he makes them worse. And so that’s what Spicer had to face. And he will have to live with that and live with the reputational damage that he’s incurred.

Though obvious, this exchange caught me off guard. Somehow, the presumption is that if you go to work at the White House or in its bomb zone, you will win a few and lose a few but your efforts on behalf of the public weal will burnish your accomplishments roster. Yes, there is power that goes with it, but invariably there is icing on that power ... words like "democracy," "flag," "country" and such. In Trump's domain, you are just another powerful asshole and not particularly powerful at that.