President Donald Trump gave extended comments Wednesday, not about the Republican Party’s midterm election wipeout but instead justifying his building a sprawling White House ballroom.

Trump invited reporters into a cavernous construction site and talked about the building project for nearly 20 minutes without mention sweeping Republican defeats around the country the night before.

“This has been a structure the likes of which has never been seen anywhere,” Trump said before watching crews erect what he said would be the project’s last beam and even signing what was being built.

The president had no public events on his schedule originally, but called reporters together at the last minute. He also briefly took questions, insisting, “If I were on the ballot I would have won.”

He said a series of rallies he held leading up the election featured a lot of love from his supporters that “we weren’t able to transfer love to the candidates.”

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