Kicking off his surprise press conference with Mitch McConnell at the White House Monday afternoon, Donald Trump made the message of the day perfectly clear: “Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell . . . has been a friend of mine for a long time.”

It’s not the most natural of friendships, but the president and the GOP leader emerged from their lunch (Vice President Mike Pence was in attendance as well) to put aside publicly their differences of the past several months. “My relationship with this gentleman is outstanding, has been outstanding,” said Trump, despite several instances of public disagreement between the two Republicans over the stalled GOP agenda.

McConnell echoed