It's a formula that's played out many times — the media finds a supposed "gotcha" on a conservative, runs around in complete commotion for 24 hours, and then the parties at the center of the uproar come forward and throw cold water all over the situation.
Well, it happened again this week as MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, The New York Times, and other supposed liberal media luminaries made hay of leaked audio and claims in a new book surrounding the relationship between former President Donald Trump and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.
The attempts to paint Republicans as being in rudderless disarray and caught up in infighting between the former president and potential next Speaker of the House were quickly put to rest by President Trump himself in an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal.
NEWS: Former President Donald Trump tells ?@learyreports? his relationship with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy remains good https://t.co/hltETvj3J4
— Ben Pershing (@benpershing) April 23, 2022
Trump acknowledged to The Journal that Leader McCarthy "made a call. I heard the call. I didn’t like the call,” but "almost immediately as you know, because he came here and we took a picture right there—you know, the support was very strong."
And while Trump told The Wall Street Journal that statements claiming he'd taken responsibility for the events of January 6, 2021 were "false" and he "never claimed responsibility," the former president didn't hint at any rift such a claim has caused.
When asked about McCarthy's leadership future within the House of Representatives should Republicans win back a majority, Trump didn't give a direct endorsement for McCarthy to become Speaker of the House but noted "I don’t know of anybody else that’s running and I think that I’ve had actually a very good relationship with him,” Trump told WSJ. “I like him. And other than that brief period of time, I suspect he likes me quite a bit," Trump added.
Not exactly the Republican Party-upending development that never-Trump Republicans and mainstream media personalities are making things out to be.
Despite attempts from opponents of Republicans' trajectory headed into the midterms to paint the party as engrossed in chaotic infighting, it's Democrats who have larger issues to deal with amid their ranks. Expanding divides are emerging within the White House and among congressional Democrats on everything from how to address inflation to terminating Title 42. President Biden, Senate Majority Schumer (D-NY), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have yet to achieve much semblance of legislative success to tout their own agenda's value, and poll numbers continue to show Americans are souring on President Biden and his party's handling of multiple crises.