Trump makes first public appearance after GOP election wipeout. Then he starts talking about his new ballroom: ‘We beautified Washington, D.C.’

President Donald Trump spoke publicly for the first time on camera after Republicans lost control of both the House and the Senate to Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Much of what he said centered on the ballroom project planned for the White House rather than the election results.

He told reporters the ballroom ceilings will rise 50 feet high and credited Republicans with improvements across Washington, D.C. “Essentially, we beautified Washington, D.C. We have 83 monuments, statues, etc. Right, Doug? 83. We just opened up the reflecting pool two days ago, and it’s magnificent,” he said, according to Mediaite.

“First time in, well, let’s see, it opened in 1922, and it never worked. Never worked. It always leaked. But now it’s not leaking. We had vandals. A lot of damage, actually. Real, real s–m. But it’s now open, and it looks beautiful,” Trump continued.

President describes ballroom scale and worker signatures on final steel

MS Now host Peter Alexander said the emphasis did not come as a surprise to him. “I’ve covered Donald Trump since, you know, since day one. So none of this is surprising, but it does just sort of have a lot of people beating their heads against a wall right now and saying, ‘Your takeaway from all of this was how nice the ballroom is and how much success you’ve had tearing down trees to build a new golf course in the district,’” Alexander said.

According to Mediaite, CNN’s Anderson Cooper introduced the same appearance by saying the president had just spoken on camera for the first time after the party’s midterm losses. Cooper then played video of Trump discussing the project in detail.

In the clip, Trump, who has waxed lyrical about the ballroom several times in the past, said, “It’s going to be not only one of the biggest, but it’ll be the most beautiful ballroom, I think, anywhere in the world.”

He added, “And they’ve been trying to get it for 150 years. And for the media, these are the people that built it. This is about 525 people, and they they really worked hard. Steelworkers, the steel is just almost being finished. As I understand it, this will be the last piece of steel. Everybody in the room signed it. All of the workers, not just the steelworkers, the the plumbers, electricians, the painters, everybody signed it. And I’m going to be the last to sign it.”

“He talked about the granite. He talked about really every aspect of the construction of the ballroom the day after this massive election loss,” Cooper said, reacting to Trump’s remarks.

One reporter asked whether aides had urged Trump not to deliver a Monday speech focused on the Reflecting Pool. “I heard it was a very good speech, got great reviews,” Trump answered.

“That was only a speech on the Reflecting Pool that had nothing to do with anything else. That was a speech very much like this is today on this incredible place that we’re building at the White House. It’s going to be here for many, many years and serving our country.”

Trump did not answer when asked which Democrats he had contacted after the results came in. He stated he was not “even a little bit” worried about impeachment. “I think it would destroy the Democrat party if they did that, because impeachment for no reason. What? For having a successful country? Our country’s more successful now than at any time in its history,” he said.

He then ended the questions and told the reporters, “Watch the beam go up.” Cooper reacted by saying, “Wow, I don’t think we need to watch the beam go up! Or, maybe we could just play the beam going up while we continue to talk. But, um. It’s remarkable.” Some of his supporters have even argued God wanted the ballroom built.

Vice President JD Vance addressed the election outcome in a post on X. “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance wrote. He noted that disagreements over the results were likely and said a pollster he respects believed the party’s economic messaging had not been sharp enough late in the campaign. “I’m sure that’s true. But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone,” Vance wrote.