By Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Courtney Subramanian President Donald Trump made his first in-person appearance since Democrats’ landslide victory in the midterm elections at the site of his White House ballroom, where he spoke at length about his renovation projects in Washington.

The choice of location and subject matter was striking, coming less than 24 hours after voters sharply rebuked Trump’s leadership by voting for candidates who criticized his handling of the cost of living and focus on priorities disconnected from average Americans. Democrats also notched wins in deep-red states considered out of reach for the party just two years ago.

It signaled that Trump is unlikely to radically change his approach during his final two years in the White House — and, if anything, could focus even more heavily on his pet projects, which also include an overhaul of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, a planned sculpture garden and transforming a historic municipal golf facility into a championship-level course.

For more than 20 minutes, Trump gushed about his White House ballroom project at a ceremony that was ostensibly to mark the raising of its final steel beam, musing over how he’d attended to missing moldings and secured a “really magnificent marble” for the complex.

“The owner of the quarry didn’t want to sell it, but he liked me, and he also was so honored to be doing it for the country,” he said. “This is a vein that everybody wanted for a long time, and I got it, and I got it for the floor of the ballroom of the White House.”ELEC The president marveled at how robust bulletproof glass used at the site was still see-through. He complained about the renovation of the Federal Reserve — and claimed that, by contrast, his ballroom construction was ahead of schedule and under budget.

He extolled his crime crackdown in Washington, the repair of monuments in the city and the removal of homeless encampments. And he derided the golf course he sought to renovate — located on a manmade island in the Potomac River — as “trash island.”The event’s upbeat tone clashed with the political wipeout Republicans suffered at the polls on Tuesday. Democrats are expected to end up controlling at least 54 Senate seats and taking 258 House seats compared to just 177 for the GOP, according to NBC News.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum called the beam raising a “day of celebration,” and Trump signed the metal bar with his name and the word “Love!”

Earlier: Vance Blames War in Iran, Israel Ties for GOP Midterm Loss It was only after his lengthy remarks about construction projects that Trump weighed in on the shellacking Republicans took at the polls. Reporters asked him to react to comments from Vice President JD Vance, who blamed the war in Iran and US-Israel ties for the GOP’s defeat.

“Probably it’s true,” Trump said when asked if he agreed that the war was responsible for the poor political climate, though he added later that higher fuel prices stoked by the conflict were to blame. At the same time, the president said he would launch the invasion again because “you have no choice.”Trump said he didn’t have a problem with Vance’s comments on social media, even though the vice president went further than he did in assigning blame on the war. “I thought it was good,” Trump said of Vance’s post.

He dismissed a CBS News report that he is asking advisers about replacing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, telling a reporter, “No, I think he’s doing a very good job.”The president also brushed aside concerns that House Democrats would move to impeach him, saying it would “destroy the Democrat Party.”The appearance mirrored the president’s final speech before election day at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where he spoke about his renovation projects. Some Republicans criticized Trump’s reflecting pool remarks, saying he should instead focused more on the economy and inflation.

The president defended that appearance to reporters, saying his remarks “got great reviews.”

Still, as workers raised the beam, Trump made clear his focus was on the ceremony at the balllroom construction site. At one point, he abruptly cut off reporters’ questions and told them to “watch the beam go up.”