Michael Cohen and the Perils of the Inner Ring

A convicted liar, Donald Trump" fixer" Michael Cohen hurled many charges at his former boss during his February 27th testimony in front of the House Oversight Committee.  Republicans wouldn't believe any of them.  But one thing he said cannot be contradicted.  Reflecting on his own character, he offered that:  "I am ashamed of my own failings. I am ashamed of my weakness . . ."

Cohen offered an explanation, though neither he nor we should see it is an excuse: "It is painful to admit that I was motivated by ambition at times. It is even more painful to admit that many times I ignored my conscience . . . Sitting here today, it seems unbelievable that I was so mesmerized by Donald Trump that I was willing to do things for him that I knew were absolutely wrong."

Being driven by ambition to help a mesmerizing individual is not new. Such moral blindness has been repeated throughout history.  Nor is it confined to politicians, as scandals in the film industry, investment banking, and corporate America, for example, amply attest. 

The writer C.S. Lewis offered some insight into this problem in delivering the 1944 Memorial Lecture at King's College, University of London.  During a world war brought on by evil men surrounded by the Michael Cohen's of their day, Lewis warned of the dangers of the desire to be in what he labeled the "Inner Ring."

The "Inner Ring" is that collection of people, not defined by formal membership rules or hierarchies, who feel themselves at the center of things.  They are driven by the allure of the power, prestige, and acceptance of those already in that inner circle. "I believe that in all men's lives at certain periods, and in many men's lives at all periods  . . . " Lewis said, "one of the most dominant elements is the desire to be inside the local Ring and the terror of being left outside." 

The "Inner Ring" need not be a source of evil. Its members can be a force for good.  It's the desire to be in the Inner Ring that's dangerous and potentially corrupting.  As he put it, "the desire which draws us into Inner Rings is another matter. A thing may be morally neutral and yet the desire for that thing may be dangerous."  That desire may drive one, as it did Michael Cohen, to immorality.  Wanting to be one of Trump's intimates, he was willing to do anything.  As he said in his testimony: "Being around Mr. Trump was intoxicating. When you were in his presence, you felt like you were involved in something greater than yourself — that you were somehow changing the world."

As Lewis advised, the thought that you might be rejected for the Inner Ring, or tossed out of it, is frightening. That fear leads some to to acts that at first might seem minor but in progressive requests are morally repugnant:

"And you will be drawn in, if you are drawn in, not by desire for gain or ease, but simply because at that moment, when the cup was so near your lips, you cannot bear to be thrust back again into the cold outer world.  It would be so terrible to . . . know that you had been tried for the Inner Ring and rejected.  And then, if you are drawn in, next week it will be something a little further from the rules, and next year something further still, but all in the jolliest, friendliest spirit. It may end in a crash, a scandal, and penal servitude: it may end in millions, a peerage and giving the prizes at your old school. But you will be a scoundrel."

"Unless you take measures to prevent it," he said, "this desire is going to be one of the chief motives of your life, from the first day on which you enter your profession until the day when you are too old to care."  That desire will mask what it is doing to you.  Michael Cohen, by his own admission, became morally numb if not blind - a person he never wanted to be.  He became a scoundrel.

All who work for a person who is charismatic, or belong to a group where ostracism from it is a price they are unwilling to pay, should be on alert. They should ask themselves if their desire to gain acceptance to - or remain in - the Inner Ring is faithful to the moral values that define who they aspire to be.  Michael Cohen is not the only one to succumb.  Donald Trump will not be the only one to create the tantalizing yet morally booby-trapped offer to join the Inner Ring.

Photo Credit: DonkeyHotey