Trump defends White House ballroom after GOP losses

President Donald Trump spent nearly 20 minutes on Wednesday describing the construction of a new White House ballroom. He ignored the results of the midterm elections held the previous night. The event took place at a large construction site near the White House.

Trump invited reporters to the site without a scheduled press conference. He watched crews install the final beam of the structure. He signed the beam and called it a unique building. He did not mention the sweeping Republican defeats in the House and Senate.

The Democratic Party won control of both chambers of Congress. Democrats captured seats in the Senate in states where they had not won since 1932. These states included South Carolina and Kansas. In Texas, Democrats won a statewide race for the first time in more than 30 years.

Trump said he was not on the ballot during the election. He claimed that if he had been a candidate, he would have won. He pointed to recent rallies where he asked supporters to act as if he were running. He said voters did not like the specific candidates on the ballot.

A recent AP Voter Poll survey found that about two-thirds of voters said Trump did not have the right priorities. Only one-third said he did. In Ohio, Iowa, Maine, and North Carolina, majorities of voters said Republican Senate candidates were too supportive of the president. All four states went to Democratic candidates in the Senate race.

Trump has a history of attributing electoral losses to other people. In 2018, he blamed defeated Republican lawmakers for not embracing his name. He used the phrase "My name wasn't on the ballot" in 30 of his 39 speeches since September 1. An AP analysis found he used the phrase at least 40 times during that period.

Most presidents acknowledge responsibility after midterm losses. Barack Obama called the 2010 election a shellacking. George W. Bush called the 2006 election a thumping. Trump told Punchbowl News in August that voters were angry at Republicans but not at him. He also blamed Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton's loss on political strategists John Cornyn and Karl Rove.

Trump did not immediately claim widespread fraud in this election. He previously accused Democrats of rigging elections in Ohio and Minnesota. Both states went to Democratic candidates. Vice President JD Vance wrote on Wednesday that the reason for the loss was the war in Iran. Trump had started that conflict in February.