Now we find out why.
See, the key to understanding what Trump does — or doesn’t do — is to this: Everything is purely transactional.
Trump does not operate on a scale of morality. He is entirely driven in his day-to-day decision-making by what he perceives to be good for him. People — and relationships — are solely a means to that end.
Which brings us back to McCarthy — and to Trump’s judgment that the House GOP leader is worth more to him politically alive than politically dead.
Trump knows that if he unleashed his fury on McCarthy for saying one thing in public and another in private that he could almost certainly end the California Republican’s aspiration to be speaker of the House.
That fact will, in Trump’s way of thinking, ensure that McCarthy never crosses him — in public or private — again. McCarthy owes his political future — or the possibility of even having a future — to Trump. And Trump will ensure that McCarthy never, ever forgets that.
The Point: Always remember that Trump sees everyone — EVERYONE — as a pawn to be played to benefit him. McCarthy just handed him an invitation to do just that.