President Donald Trump’s first public appearance since Democrats swept the midterms was a beam signing inside the unfinished White House ballroom, where he spoke for more than 20 minutes about its yet-to-be-installed Corinthian columns, bulletproof glass and marble floor.
He did not raise the election once, though he did field reporter questions on it afterward.
“I’m at a loss,” one administration official told The Washington Sun of the appearance.
Trump told the more than 500 workers gathered at the site that construction is ahead of schedule, under budget and will be “the safest place in Washington,” referring to the aspects of the project he’s argued are crucial for national security.
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He pointed toward the ceiling and noted they were over 50 feet high. The roof, he said, could hold more than 100 drones and the marble came from a vein the quarry owner didn’t want to sell, but relented because “he liked me.”
Trump has frequently retreated to the comfort of a construction project this year, as his approval rating cratered to historic lows amid concerns about high costs from the Iran war and government corruption.
On Monday, while Republican candidates made their final pitches to voters, the president visited the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial and devoted much of his speech to discussing the renovation. But at least one former administration official indicated they weren’t surprised to see Trump return to the construction site on Wednesday.
“The ballroom is his emotional support animal,” the former Trump official said.
Trump seemed to acknowledge as much during his presentation, when he alluded to some of the criticism that too much of his focus ahead of the midterms had been centered on the ballroom and other renovation projects.
“It was sort of mentioned a little bit during the campaign about, ‘Why does Trump spend time on the White House?’ Well, first of all, it’s very little time. Second of all, I like it. It’s good for me,” he said. “I love construction.”
“It’s free,” Trump said. “Some great patriots have devoted a lot of money, given a lot of money to get it built, and so we didn’t use taxpayers’ money to build this ballroom.”
Internal documents reported by The Washington Post earlier this year put roughly $307 million drawn from taxpayer-funded sources, with the total construction cost at about $600 million.
Although Trump’s presentation didn’t mention Tuesday’s midterm catastrophe, he didn’t avoid questions about it afterward. As workers placed the final beam, he reiterated his belief that the outcome would’ve been better had he been on the ballot — “We weren’t able to transfer the love to candidates,” he said — and that the cost of the Iran war had a significant impact on the election results.
“It’s largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short-term,” Trump said. “But at the same time, if I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again. Because, long term, it’s the only answer.”
Trump was up late on election night, giving phone interviews to reporters from The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal and also calling into shows on Fox News and Politico.
Trump wasn’t heard from publicly again until midday Wednesday, when he posted on Truth Social that the stock market “hit another Record High” and images of the New York Post’s metro edition praising his foreign policy.
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