Lori Falce: Confession is good for the soul — unless you are a politician

As a kid, I was always cautioned that admitting my faults was the easier path.

When you go to Catholic school, that is reinforced when you go to confession. The exit ramp from the road to hell was an earnest admission, a genuine apology and a few Hail Marys.

Have I always believed it? Honestly, no. On more than one occasion, I have been pretty sure the best way out of trouble was to deny steadfastly that I had any idea why I got that F on my chemistry lab or why the dining room chair was missing.

I was wrong. I would have been much better off admitting I understood none of the math for the lab and the chair was broken during a rousing game of Trivial Pursuit. (I was an incredibly boring teenager.)

What stopped me from owning up was fear. Like wincing away from a needle at the doctor’s office only to realize the shot is over, the fear is often much worse than the reality.

Is that what is happening in Washington?

Our political leaders seem utterly incapable of admitting to anything. The White House press briefing room — all of the government press briefing rooms —have become places where questions are asked, often about things witnessed, but reality is denied.

On Monday, Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, published a story about his inclusion in a group chat on the app Signal with various government officials including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, national security adviser Michael Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. It appeared to be a conversation about bombing plans in Yemen. That was seemingly confirmed when Houthi targets in Yemen were bombed.

According to Goldberg, the National Security Council spokesman confirmed the Signal group was real. A spokesman for Vance denied comments in the thread pointed to anything other than full-throated agreement with President Donald Trump.

Other than that, the official line is one of “nothing to see here.” In front of a Senate panel Tuesday, top security officials took the stance that using an unsecured smartphone app for sensitive planning matters is not a problem.

The position has quickly turned defensive. If there was a problem, it was the journalist’s fault. Hegseth was vehement.

“Nobody was texting war plans,” he told press in Hawaii, pivoting to call Goldberg “deceitful and highly discredited.”

It is not the first time we have been told we don’t see what we are seeing. It is not exclusive to the Trump administration. Many politicians of both parties wait until they are boxed in to admit to anything. The Trump administration, however, seems to never admit to being boxed in.

It’s ridiculous. Mistakes happen. So do errors in judgment. We have to be able to acknowledge that rather than walking through a house fire refusing to concede there are flames.

Once again, we are left in the position of expecting less from our government than we would expect from our children. Until now, that has included things such as name-calling and bullying. Now it includes the simple, “Leave It to Beaver” kind of lesson that confession is good for the soul.