Trump enters the anger stage over the GOP’s catastrophic loss

For a few very strange days this week, President Trump didn’t publicly acknowledge the Republican Party’s catastrophic losses in the midterm elections. Instead, the day after the election, he took journalists on a surprise tour of his under-construction White House ballroom where he only briefly answered an election-related question, about Vice President JD Vance’s assertion that the Iran war had hurt Republicans in the midterms. (“I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term,” the president responded, adding: “At the same time, if I had it to do again, I’d have to do it again because long-term it’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”) But until this weekend, Trump had largely stayed away from reacting to the dismal GOP results, confining himself instead to important matters like complaining on TruthSocial about daylight saving time: “It’s so dark outside, so early (Sunset was 5:06 P.M., and it was dark by 5:31 P.M. — Isn’t that ridiculous?)”

Now, however, there are signs that the president has exited the denial phase of the grieving process and entered the anger stage. First came his announcement that he’d tapped Stephen Miller, an anti-immigration extremist and the most noxious and widely disliked of his advisors, as his new chief of staff. And over the weekend, Trump has made a litany of posts on TruthSocial in which he seems to be trying out various responses to the election, to see what might stick. 

On Saturday, Trump reposted several posts and graphs alleging that the Democratic wins across the country had been fraudulent, including one that falsely claimed, “Democrats materialized 20 million new votes.” He also demanded a Justice Department investigation into what he claimed were threats being made by the Democratic party “against innocent Republican Donors and Party Members,” adding, “The Senate must act, and stop being pushed around to the point of the Republican Party losing Elections, and Worse!” He also reposted several posts pushing back against calls for the impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and reportedly told 60 Minutes, in an interview that will air on Sunday, that while he’ll be making a “few changes,” firing Hegseth won’t be one of them. 

Apparently hungry for attention, Trump also tried to make a splash with another shock appointment, claiming that he’d offered the role of White House press secretary to UFC CEO Dana White, who he called “a violent Fighter and Warrior.” He further insisted White bring various UFC fighters with him. “We need these people to defend us against the Lunatic Left,” Trump wrote. According to CNN, White speedily declined the job offer. But on Sunday morning, Trump shared an AI-generated cartoon of White and various UFC fighters beating up journalists in the White House press briefing room, and the Wall Street Journal reported that White will meet with Trump on Monday to discuss the potential role.

On Sunday morning, Trump complained that the economy would suffer without him, writing, “America took a giant step back in History with the results of the last Election — Even the Stock Market, which has been a ‘ROCKETSHIP’ under ‘TRUMP,’ took a one day, 3 Trillion Dollar loss. But have no fear, we will be back, BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”

All of this served, at least in the short term, to get Trump the shock and attention he always seems to crave. But it was also clear that what he was really wants is validation. In announcing his 60 Minutes interview, he wrote, “Hopefully, they will show all the good things we’ve done over the past 2 years, not even including the First Term, which was incredible. If we get help from the Republican Senate, we can still do things that are unbelievable!”

While there’s no doubt that Trump will likely do several more “unbelievable” things before leaving office, more insults for his ego are likely on the way. As PBS recently reported, several of his controversial pet projects, including the ballroom, his gigantic triumphal arch, a proposed “National Garden of American Heroes” and a plan to remake a golf course in East Potomac will all soon be at risk, when Democrats take control of the House, Senate, and the appropriations process needed to fund them.