Meaning of 'cost'

Question

The following sentence is the headline of the Washington Post.

The same nuclear fears Pelosi has about Trump cost an Air Force major his job in 1973

I know the usual meanings of cost as a noun and a verb and understand the article. But the headline is vague to me. I guess that she fears like the major did but when I think cost as the verb which means make feel bad or suffer it doesn't make sense because the story of the major was published 2017 and there isn't any mention about him now.

What do the cost and the headline mean?

Answer 1

The basic meaning of "cost" is the "the amount that you lose".

So when you buy a loaf of bread, the "cost" is the amount of money you have to give to the shop. And you can talk about "the cost of the Hurricane was 50 lives"

It is also common as a verb meaning to "cause to lose": "the bread costs £1", "The hurricane cost 50 people their life".

In this case it means that the Air force Major lost his job. And the reason was "having the same fears that Pelosi has about Trump". I can't read the article because I don't have a subscription to the Washington Post, but it seems to be that in 1973 an Air Force Major expressed concern that Nixon might be insane and order a nuclear attack, and was forced to resign from the army.