FIFTY-FIVE
“Hey, did you leak this lunch?”
President Trump, in a dark suit and yellow tie, was grinning at Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, who had come to visit him at Mar-a-Lago on January 28.
“No,” McCarthy said, stepping toward Trump past a vase of yellow roses and gold drapes. “Your staff must have, right? I never told my staff.”
“You think my staff did it?”
“No. I don’t think your staff did it.”
“Well, who do you think did it?”
“You,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy’s visit to the former president was all over the news. The former president did not deny leaking the story. He seemed very eager to be back in the headlines, back in the action. Having the top House Republican come for lunch was not something to keep secret.
The leaders of the Republican Party were still coming to him. McCarthy, in particular, was a wild card after he said on January 13 that Trump “bears responsibility” for the Capitol riot, a remark that enraged Trump. Now, McCarthy was visiting him, seeking his input and advice.
“You know, Melania said this has more press than when I met Putin,” Trump said. There were news helicopters nearby, he said, and lots of media interest.
“You know it’s good for you and me, right?”
“All right,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy came with the hope of keeping Trump involved with the House GOP so he could retake the majority in 2022. He needed to steer Trump away from unnecessary primary fights and to lend his name to winnable seats. They sat down for lunch.
“You want a cheeseburger and fries?”
“I’ll have a cheeseburger, but I’m fat,” McCarthy said. “No fries. Salad. Take the bun out.”
“That really works?” Trump asked, looking over at McCarthy’s plate. Trump took the bun off his own burger.
“You want some ice cream?”
“I’ll have some fruit.”
Trump ordered ice cream for himself.
“You know, being off Twitter has kind of helped me.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah, a lot of people would say they liked my policy, didn’t like my tweets.”
“Yeah, like everybody.”
“My numbers have kind of gone up.”
Trump asked about the upcoming Senate impeachment trial.
“I don’t think it’s going anywhere,” McCarthy said.
Graham spoke with Trump again on January 31, just 11 days after Biden was sworn in. The Senate trial was scheduled to begin in early February. A day earlier, Trump had shaken up his legal team for the trial, lurching from one group of little-known lawyers to another.
Trump’s calls with attorneys and his aides about the trial were haphazard. Trump was distracted and intent on relitigating the election and his claims of fraud. It was the same loud, angry refrain, every call, to the point where even his closest aides were exhausted.
Most of our guys, the Senate Republicans, Graham assured Trump on his call, will vote to acquit you, on the grounds that it is unconstitutional to try a former president who is already out of office.
Trump, however, seemed more excited about the support of Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, the freshman Georgia Republican and far-right lawmaker whose extremist politics were at the core of her political image. Greene had supported Trump’s efforts to overturn the election and had filed articles of impeachment against Biden the day after his inauguration.
Greene had also promoted QAnon conspiracies on social media. “Q is a patriot,” Greene once wrote in one video post. “He’s on the same page as us, and he is very pro-Trump.”
“Be careful,” Graham warned him, “don’t let her draw you into quicksand here.”
“She says nice things about me,” Trump said.
Graham sighed. This was how it was going to be in Trump’s post–White House world.
He would do his best, guiding Trump where he could. He would still be the senator Trump could call for a read on Congress, or a round of golf.
But there was no changing him. You just kept the conversation going.