I saw it with my own eyes. I was sitting at the breakfast counter Sunday morning, grooving on my weekly dose of “Meet the Press.” Moderator Chuck Todd was doing the interview duet with Trump attorney Rudy Guiliani, Todd’s favorite guest of the last few months. The tough-talking former New York City mayor was being quizzed on the reasons why the President might be reluctant to appear before Special Counsel Robert Mueller.  His response, “Truth isn’t truth,” put a look of wild-eyed amazement on Todd’s face. along with the realization he had just hit ratings gold.

But was Guiliani wrong? Well, that’s as tricky as pinning down Bill Clinton on the meaning of “is.” Although the Merriam-Webster Dictionary lists a couple of definitions for thw word truth, for most of us, it means definition 1, being in accordance with fact or reality. Leaving alternative facts aside for a moment we can all agree on some things. 1+1=2 is a truth. Donald Trump is the President of the United States is sad but a truth.  I am getting older every day; also sad, but true.

So it’s all simple; Guiliani was lying or talking nonsense, right? Well, not quite. You see, one of those Webster’s definitions of truth is “a judgment, proposition, or idea that is true or accepted as true” (italics mine.) Aye, there’s the rub. Accepted by who?

Acceptance is in the eye, or more correctly the brain, of the beholder. If I accept that winning 6 NBA Championships in eight years makes Michael Jordon a better player than Lebron James, but you accept that Lebron has more all-around talent than Michael in his prime and is thus the better player, we have different truths as to who is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time for you non-sports nerds,) Michael or King James.

So by this definition truth can be an awful squishy property, like Silly Putty picking up an image from the comics and then oozing out between your fingers, the image now distorted and unrecognizable. The Trump/Guiliani truth may not match the Mueller truth, but by that last definition, both can be “the truth.”

Guiliani might be right. Sucks, doesn’t it?

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