On Tuesday, voters across the country handed President Donald Trump and his Republican party one of the most resounding defeats in modern American political history.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump called the press corps together to witness the placement of a final beam at the White House ballroom.
Yes, you read that right.
Trump ignored the elephant — ahem — in the room for the better part of thirty minutes before taking questions about the 2026 election from reporters.
The whole thing was utterly surreal.
I went through Trump’s full remarks word for word — and collected the quotes you need to see. They’re below.
To the Lines!
“This has been a structure the likes of which has never been seen anywhere. The most incredible part, nobody will understand that, but this -- what's underneath it, that's probably by far the most difficult. This is the easy part. This is the part that people see, but what's underground they don't see, but that's the most difficult part, and we did it in record time.”
Remember the reporting a few months ago that made clear that Trump cares more about the construction of the ballroom than he cares about anything else? So, yeah, that is 100% correct. And away we go!
“I say to the media, these are all our construction people.”
“These are my awards, Mother. From Army. The seal is for marksmanship, and the gorilla is for sand racing. Now if you’ll excuse me, they’re putting me in something called Hero Squad.” — Buster Bluth
“Over here, you're going to have magnificent columns on this side, outside, exterior columns. It's very much like the Supreme Court. They're actually taller and they're even more magnificent. They're fabricated now. They're being carved out of beautiful limestone, and they'll be Corinthian, in the Corinthian design, which is considered the -- the creme de la creme”
Republicans — as of this writing — have lost seven Senate seats (and the Senate majority). They have lost 38 House seats (and the House majority.) And the Republican president of the United States is talking about limestone and Corinthian columns.
“And for the media, you can see the -- that'll be essentially a glass -- beautiful glass tube coming into the ballroom right from the east side of the White House, using the current ballroom, which is a tiny room. It holds, like, 90 people. Using the current room for cocktails, et cetera, et cetera, so you'll have tremendous -- just a tremendous structure. It's a structure the likes of which has never been done.”
Can you imagine if you are a Republican who lost your seat on Tuesday and you are watching Trump talk about the glass in the ballroom? Let them eat cake, indeed!
“People are -- they -- it's a great thing of beauty, and when you fly over the White House and you see it -- in fact, it's so good.”
He’s talking about the helipad. People are saying it’s a “great thing of beauty”? Which people, exactly?
