The news this week has been awash with liars. It’s naive to say that lying isn’t a part of life and human nature, because people fear disappointment from others or shame, but some lies are far bigger than others.
I once lied to my mom about correspondence with a soccer coach from an elite soccer college. There was a time in my life when soccer was everything and I wanted, like many of my teammates, to play for the best after high school. I lied that a coach at an elite school had reached out to me–with interest that I play at the university they represented–because they had reached out to a teammate and I was jealous and embarrassed. I never wanted to be second best. My mom eventually got the truth out of me and it was the most disappointed she has ever been in me. That moment, though trivial when compounded with the fact that soccer now plays zero role in my life, was huge then, and still weighs on me now. Not because I didn’t get into that elite soccer school on a scholarship, but because I lied to my mom, the person who loves and trusts me most.
There was a feeling that hung over me like a cloud for weeks after the lie happened and after she forgave me. The cloud dissipated over time, but it taught me a lifelong lesson. Sustaining lies hurts. It drags you down slowly and menacingly. It’s a disease that progressively gets worse the longer you let it hold on to you.
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, lied for a long time. He lied to Congress, the American people, and scores more. He is soon to pay the price for those lies. However, he recently had one last chance to stop lying, and he did in front of the House Oversight Committee. “The last time I appeared before Congress, I came to protect Mr. Trump. Today, I’m here to tell the truth about Mr. Trump.”
Republicans had one card to play: once a liar, always a liar. This card proved to not lead to any form of effective testimony, because the republicans have made their bed. They will go to end of the earth to protect President Trump. Cohen once had a similar mentality–look where he is now. That is the great irony of this.
What will happen with Cohen’s testimony and how it will effect the president and his inner circle is still unknown. It was incredibly damning, but I’ve given up hope that anything will ever change congressional republicans minds.
Cohen has nothing to lose. For once in his life, there is no benefit for him to lie. A man with no benefits would not lie for sport, and this is why Cohen, in this moment, should be believed. May his journey as Trump’s “fixer” act as a big, Times Squares-sized, flashing warning sign for those in Washington who can’t seem to get off the Trump train, despite the fact that it seems to be headed for a big, granite wall.
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