And, scene.
Which suggests McCarthy could well survive this incident — politically speaking — and that his long-term quest to be speaker of the House may not be derailed.
That said, there’s more than just politics here. Because this is what we now know about McCarthy, the top-ranking Republican in the House: He flat-out lied about comments he had made about Trump immediately following the January 6 attacks.
That has to matter.
But now, a man who wants to run the House was caught red-handed in a flat-out lie. There’s no finessing it. McCarthy said the Times was wrong. They had the receipts.
Which has to raise another question among McCarthy’s Republican colleagues: What else has he, or will he, lie about?
At root, politicians’ success — Trump excepted — tends to be built on a notion among both their constituents and their colleagues that they can be trusted. That you might not always like what they say, but you can be sure what they say is the truth.
The Point: That can no longer be said about McCarthy. And that has to matter to his political future.