President Donald Trump spent the day before the midterm elections discussing work at the Reflecting Pool, while insisting his remarks had nothing to do with the vote. The next day, after Republicans suffered sweeping losses, he delivered a construction update from the site of his White House ballroom.

Between those appearances, Democrats captured Senate races in historically conservative Texas, South Carolina and Kansas. Democrats won control of the Senate with 54 seats to 44 for Republicans, while an MS NOW estimate put the House at 255 Democrats and 168 Republicans.

One Republican called the result a near “extinction-level” event. A White House official described the election outcome as “the worst-case scenario,” a blunt assessment of the political damage inflicted on Trump’s party.

Trump nevertheless remains convinced that bad candidates were responsible, although he handpicked many of them. Current and former officials told MS NOW that staff members were frustrated, but not surprised, by his refusal to accept responsibility for the losses.

They were also exasperated by his attention to construction projects as Republicans headed toward a rout. With two years remaining in Trump’s term, some staffers are considering leaving, while allies worry about retaining current employees, recruiting replacements and keeping Trump focused on his agenda.

“In this current trajectory, there’s no shot this is salvageable,” one former White House official who remains in contact with current staff said of Trump’s MAGA agenda. Asked about Trump’s likely priority during his remaining two years, the former official pointed to renovations.

The Reflecting Pool and ballroom projects, which together cost more than $600 million, have generated frustration and confusion among staff across the White House. Another former official who remains close to the administration said, “The president’s attention is all over the place.”

That former official said morale was low and the attraction of working inside the White House was fading. Staff members are making calls about leaving, the official said, while others have been advised to seek legal counsel as a precaution.

One former Trump administration official summarized the internal atmosphere with a single word: “pain.” The official predicted that infighting would begin, basing that assessment on knowledge of the environment inside the administration.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment before publication. When Trump returned to office last year, his MAGA allies already had a governing blueprint in Project 2025 and filled the Cabinet and administration with loyalists who had stayed with him during his political comeback.

After a series of departures, however, several people close to Trump’s operation are questioning whether serving during the final two years is worthwhile. Another person close to the White House operation said recruiting would be difficult because government salaries compete poorly with lucrative private sector jobs and the available posts are volatile and brief.

“A lot of people think he’s not going to be able to do anything. He’s a lame duck,” one former official said. That official added that the Democratic takeover of Congress was less important to reluctant recruits because Trump has relied heavily on executive authority, particularly in foreign policy.

Since beginning his third presidential campaign in late 2022, Trump has depended on a notably small group of trusted operatives to oversee his political and White House operations. A person close to the operation said staff members do not speak frankly with Trump about remaining focused on policy because they believe he will not listen.

At the ballroom site Wednesday, Trump spoke for almost 20 minutes in a subdued and nearly indifferent tone without mentioning the Republican losses from the previous night. A current White House official said Trump does not view the optics of his construction remarks the way other staff members do.

The official also said Trump was not thinking about polling and voter approval as he may have previously. A longtime adviser described construction as Trump’s “true interest” and called it a return to “his happy place.”

That adviser said Trump was probably less angry about the midterms than many people assumed, pointing to other losses and disappointments he had weathered. “His skyscraper just got cut down by 30%, and he is going to find a way to rebuild,” the adviser said.