I called former national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien, who has been down to Mar-a-Lago and on the phone with the former president. Had he heard this chatter? O’Brien went on the record: “I’ve never heard any such thing,” he declared on my radio show Thursday. “The president and Gov. DeSantis always had a strong relationship. … My guess is this is fake news coming from the media that’s trying to stir up some sort of controversy that doesn’t exist,” he continued. “As the president’s pointed out in the past, he helped get Gov. DeSantis elected to his current position. So I think there’s a strong relationship there.”

I also checked in with longtime DeSantis supporters. Sources close to the governor confirm O’Brien’s account: “There is no conflict. Zero tension.”

After all that sleuthing, the former president himself knocked down the idea of a conflict on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, echoing O’Brien’s assessment: “Fake news,” declared Trump.

Addiction is a terrible thing to break, and Trump addiction is particularly strong among scribblers and talking heads. But, as for the alleged feud, as Gertrude Stein said of Oakland, there’s no there there.