Trump skips midterm defeat to tour new White House ballroom
The president addressed reporters at the construction site on Wednesday, avoiding questions about the Democratic takeover of Congress.
By Yuki Melnyk ·
President Donald Trump chose to showcase a new White House ballroom rather than address his party's midterm election defeat on Wednesday. He gathered reporters at the construction site without prior notice to discuss the structure, ignoring the sweeping losses that returned Democrats to control of Congress. The president offered no explanation for the Republican wipeout during the impromptu event.
Trump had no scheduled public appearances that day. He called the press corps together at the last minute to preside over the installation of the final beam in the ballroom project. He stated he would sign the beam and described the building as a structure unlike any seen before. The president did not accept questions from reporters after his remarks.
The timing follows a turbulent election night. Trump initially pledged to work with Democrats and accept the results. He later told Fox News that he did not view the outcome as a personal defeat because his name was not on the ballot. He argued that voters simply did not like the specific Republican candidates they faced.
An Associated Press voter poll indicated that Trump’s presence on the ticket likely hurt his party's prospects. In Ohio, Iowa, Maine, and North Carolina, majorities of voters said their Republican Senate candidates were too supportive of the president. These states all voted for the Democratic ticket. On social media, Trump claimed his party would have won in a landslide if he had been a candidate.
The president has a history of deflecting blame for electoral losses. In 2018, he criticized losing Republican lawmakers for not embracing him sufficiently. He used the phrase "my name wasn't on the ballot" to excuse those failures. An analysis of his speeches since September found he urged supporters to pretend he was on the ballot in at least 40 instances.
Trump avoided claiming widespread election fraud in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's vote. He had previously called for the criminal prosecution of Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola. He also suggested in Ohio and Minnesota that Democrats could only win through cheating. Both states elected Democratic candidates.
The president has also pointed to other factors for the losses. He blamed Texas political strategist Karl Rove and former Senator John Cornyn for the defeat of Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton. He also criticized Texas Governor Greg Abbott for becoming a Republican in name only. Vice President JD Vance wrote that the war in Iran was the primary reason for the party's loss.
