President Donald Trump watches a beam rise into position at the White House ballroom construction site in Washington on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. His party just suffered a drubbing unseen in decades, but the president, leading a tour of his ballroom project, was placid and eager to wax on about construction instead. (Doug Mills/The New York Times) Talk about a thumping. After months of struggling to overcome brutal political fundamentals, most Republicans awoke Wednesday to the fresh pain of…
