Whenever you need a lawyer, it’s important to have a good one.

A good lawyer doesn’t mean Perry Mason or whatever the TV idea of a good lawyer tends to be. It’s an attorney who is trustworthy, and who can balance the demands of a sometimes mercenary profession with professional ethics.

There’s bipartisan agreement that Michael Cohen, a wretched figure, is not that guy. His testimony is the latest episode of a political circus in which highly dubious figures provide entertainment plot twists for the media’s conspiracy theories.

Cohen’s lies are the product of two elements.

1. A leftist anti-Trump movement embedded within law enforcement that is willing to violate any and all rules, including attorney-client privilege, in the hopes of getting Trump.

2. Cohen’s own basically mercenary nature. It’s why his appearance counts as little more than political entertainment. He’s proven that he will say anything if he thinks it will get him somewhere. Those kinds of transactional ethics in someone with a law degree can seem useful, but are actually quite dangerous. A lawyer with no ethics or morals isn’t just bad at his job, which Cohen was, but is untrustworthy.

Period.