A day after voters dealt his presidency a historic blow, President Donald Trump retreated to what he called “the safest place in Washington”: his ballroom construction site.
With Democrats having just seized control of Congress, Trump had more pressing matters on his mind: Corinthian columns, heavy steel beams and a “special vein” in the marble flooring of his new ballroom.
At an event marking the installation of the final beam in the ballroom, Trump spent more than 20 minutes extolling the finer points of his latest Washington renovation projects before addressing the election results in his first public appearance since the Republicans’ losses.
He brushed aside criticism that he was spending too much time on the ballroom as Americans grappled with rising prices and the consequences of the war.
“Well, first of all, it’s very little time,” Trump said, at his second event in three days focused on his renovation efforts. “Second of all, I like it. It’s good for me. It’s relaxing. For somebody else, it’s the opposite. But for me, it’s real. I love construction.”
The appearance marked a fitting bookend to an election in which the president repeatedly prioritized his own interests over his party’s needs. As Republicans across the country fretted about the impact his historically low approval ratings would have on the party’s performance, he sought to put himself at the center of the campaign.
He opened campaign season by throwing himself a party, a midterm convention in Dallas. He then barnstormed the country, often appearing in ruby red districts, where he told his most ardent supporters to act like he was on the ballot. He closed at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the site of one of his most controversial, but also cherished, renovation projects.
But among the hard hats, construction equipment and power tools, Trump could avoid the election results. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum joined the president, praising him as “the builder in chief” and “the greatest builder that has ever been president of the United States.”
“Today, of course, is a day of celebration, and it’s a day of gratitude,” Burgum said.
The ballroom is expected to be completed in 2028 — barring a legal challenge. Democrats are set to delay or even halt the ballroom and Trump’s other construction projects after taking power in January.
Trump has framed his projects as necessary fixes to the nation’s capital. But many Americans don’t agree they should be a priority. Nearly two-thirds of voters said Tuesday that Trump has the wrong priorities, according to exit polls, and a similar percentage said that the president focuses on his personal interests rather than the country’s.
When he finally took questions about the election results, Trump sought to distance himself from the Republicans’ defeat.
Trump had told voters he was on the ballot or that they should pretend he was on the ballot 63 times before Election Day, in speeches, interviews and Truth Social posts, according to The Washington Post’s analysis.
Now he was explaining why it mattered that he wasn’t.
“And if I was on the ballot, we would have won,” Trump told reporters at the construction site. “But they just — you couldn’t transfer that love.”
He mentioned how “packed” his rallies were, and claimed his closing message at the Reflecting Pool on Monday “got great reviews.”
Trump acknowledged that the high prices caused by the war in Iran likely caused the severe losses for Republicans on Election Day, but he maintained he had “no choice” over whether to go to war and said he would do it again.
Then he returned to a subject more to his liking: chandeliers. He directed the press to look around and imagine the light fixtures that would eventually fill the ballroom ceiling. Then he marveled at the workers’ installation of the heavy steel beams.
“Watch,” Trump told the reporters, who he said were not initially invited to the event. “Pretty amazing, isn’t it? The entire building, every single hole, was perfect, which is rare, but we have great people.”
After the beam was successfully installed, he accepted another question about Vice President JD Vance breaking with the administration to blame Trump’s unpopular war with Iran for the party’s drubbing, which included losses of Senate seats in historically red states such as Texas and South Carolina.
Trump, who rarely tolerates dissent, called the vice president’s post “fine” and “good.” He said he knew about Vance’s opposition to the war when he invaded Iran.
But he left open the possibility that Vance would not run to succeed him.
“You can have a lot of people, maybe a lot of people running,” Trump said. “Maybe nobody’s going to run. Maybe he won’t run. I don’t know who’s going to run.”
Then, he turned from the dangers facing his party to those confronting the construction workers at the ballroom site, commenting on how they needed good balance.
When reporters pulled him back to the war in Iran, he said that he would not dismiss Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a central architect of the conflict, as many Republicans look for a scapegoat for the losses.
Then he abruptly returned to the projects that spark joy.
“Great stuff, right?” Trump said. “If you want to see the helipad, bring the cameras over there. Let me show you.”
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