BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, was in an uncharacteristically dark place.
It was after the Capitol siege of Jan. 6, and he was getting pounded from all sides. He was being accused, accurately, of promoting President Donald Trump’s stolen-election lies. But Trump was still enraged at him for not doing more, and his supporters had just ransacked McCarthy’s office.
“This is the first time I think I’ve ever been depressed in this job,” McCarthy confided to his friend, Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, R-N.C. “Patrick, man, I’m down, I’m just really down.”
McHenry told him to gather himself. “You’re dazed,” McHenry said, recounting the exchange. “You have to try to think clearly.”