For years now, through controversy after controversy, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has bent over backward to stay in former President Donald Trump's good graces, all to serve one major purpose: He wants to be speaker someday.

That hope may have just blown up on the launchpad.

On Thursday night, NYT’s Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns delivered an absolute stunner of a scoop: an audio recording of a phone call on Jan. 10, 2021, in which McCarthy is heard clearly and unambiguously saying that Trump should resign. Listen for yourself

Listen to Playbook Deep Dive: 'You only win if you fight:' Will Gallego unseat Sinema?

Raghu Manavalan is the Host of POLITICO's Playbook.
Jenny Ament is the Executive Producer of POLITICO Audio.