Donald Trump managed to keep his anger out of view when the cameras were rolling.
Just hours after Democrats captured both chambers of Congress in one of the most punishing midterm defeats in recent political history, the president appeared on Fox News late Tuesday and did something highly unusual: He complimented his opponents.
“Democrats did a good job,” he said. “They fought hard.”
In an interview with The New York Times, Trump said he was prepared to accept the outcome and would prefer working with Democrats during his final two years in office rather than spending that time vetoing their legislation.
By Wednesday morning, he was answering questions at the construction site of his new White House ballroom, projecting the calm of a man discussing somebody else’s political crisis.
Trump again stressed that he had not been on the ballot—despite urging voters to treat the election as a referendum on his presidency—and said he had no intention of reshuffling his Cabinet. In his telling, the result had nothing to do with his administration.
Away from the ballroom and its cameras, however, Trump was making calls—and searching for someone to hold responsible.
After Republican operatives began pointing fingers at Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump appeared, after only a few hours of sleep, to have focused on another potential target.
According to a White House insider familiar with the president’s calls, and two other sources who confirmed the account, Trump asked several close advisers whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should remain in office.
After Chief of Staff Susie Wiles (right) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were identified by Republican operatives as possible scapegoats, Trump appeared to settle on another name.
Those sources now believe Hegseth could be out before the next Congress takes office in January. The timing, they say, may have less to do with Trump’s immediate frustration than with the political math.
Once Democrats assume control of the Senate next year, winning confirmation for a new Pentagon chief would become a far more difficult battle—one the White House may prefer to avoid.
“Trump is making phone calls, contemplating it,” a senior Republican said.
The concern surrounding Hegseth is not necessarily the Iran war itself—although conservative voices, including Vice President JD Vance, have blamed the conflict for Tuesday’s losses. Rather, one source said, the president is angry about how much information he received and when he received it.
The source said Trump repeatedly learned about major operational developments in the Persian Gulf only after they had occurred.
“There’s always some new information that he’s being told after the fact,” a White House insider said, describing Trump’s frustration over why Iran’s surface-to-air missile systems and other weapons had not been destroyed after Hegseth had repeatedly said the US military had eliminated them.
The source also claimed that Trump had, on some occasions, learned about threats only after they became reality.
Another person familiar with the situation offered a blunt assessment: “The defense secretary is in charge of knowing and explaining accurately what is possible and what the relative risks are. There is nobody else responsible for that.”
The White House has rejected the account. Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Trump retains complete confidence in Hegseth, while a Pentagon spokesperson echoed that position, saying: “Secretary Hegseth always provides the President and White House senior leaders with the full operational picture.”
A veteran Republican operative identified another reason for urgency: An incoming Democratic House is expected to investigate Hegseth, potentially leading to impeachment and a Senate trial—an outcome few in the administration want, especially the president.
Late Wednesday, Kentucky Democrat Thomas Massie told CNN that he intends to force a vote on impeaching Hegseth when lawmakers return next week.
At the same time, Wiles—the powerful chief of staff whom many Republicans are privately blaming for the defeat—appears to have pulled herself out of immediate danger. Several insiders say she is likely to survive the expected post-election “purge” by engaging in a distinctly Trumpian exercise in political maneuvering.
According to those accounts, Wiles has positioned Trump’s leading Cabinet figures, particularly Vance and Rubio, against one another while keeping herself out of the line of fire.
Vance moved quickly to blame the election result on the Iran war in a statement issued Wednesday morning—one that came close to implicating the president without saying so directly.
“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance wrote.
But did Trump actually say that?
Sources described Vance’s 600-word statement as a carefully crafted attempt to distance himself from the unpopular conflict, which many Americans blame for worsening the cost-of-living crisis, while directing responsibility toward administration hawks such as Hegseth and Rubio as he begins positioning himself for 2028.
Asked about Vance’s remarks at the ballroom construction site, Trump did not challenge them. He called the assessment “largely true,” saying the war had pushed gas prices higher “in the short term.” He added, however: “You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
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Inside the West Wing, there is now disagreement over whether Trump knew Vance’s statement was coming.
“The President was blindsided by the tweet,” a White House official told the Daily Mail, insisting that Trump had not approved the message before it was posted.
A second official offered the opposite account: “Yes the White House was aware before the post went out. POTUS was briefed beforehand as well and did not have any issues with it. Which is why he backed it up when asked by reporters.”
Another source close to the matter gave a similar version, saying the post had been flagged to the White House and cleared before publication.
Within hours, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, publicly backed Vance’s message on X.
Donald Trump Jr is among Vance’s most influential allies inside Trump’s political circle.
“The President was blindsided by the tweet,” a White House official told the Daily Mail, saying Trump had not approved Vance’s statement before it was published.
Not everyone close to the president was willing to give Vance the benefit of the doubt.
“It’s too little, too late,” a senior Trump official said. “He [Vance] didn’t even have the guts to really say the Iran war was a mistake, just that it’s the reason we lost.”
“It’s pathetic, honestly. He needs to be willing to gamble with Trump’s wrath to even have a chance at 2028.”
As speculation over Hegseth’s future intensified, one possible successor began appearing in reports: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Senior White House sources, however, quickly dismissed the suggestion.
“Meatball Ron thought he could take over President Trump’s party once before and got humiliated,” a White House official told the Daily Mail. “Republican voters already told him what they think of his ambitions but, apparently, his ego still hasn’t gotten the message.”
Washington has not forgotten that DeSantis fired Wiles, who managed his 2018 campaign for governor.
On Tuesday night, Wiles and Trump aide Natalie Harp stayed with the president as he watched the “Blue Wave” sweep across the country from the privacy of his White House residence. Trump declined to join his staff’s election-night gathering downstairs or meet with other officials.
“The President is pretty well insulated,” a former Trump official said, describing a protective network of Wiles loyalists who control access to him.
Only Cabinet officials and major donors, the former official said, can reliably get through from outside that circle.
Wiles has two notable vulnerabilities: Harp and housing finance director Bill Pulte. Both have unusually direct access to Trump because of his personal affinity for them, making it difficult for Wiles to restrict their influence.
Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair and Trump adviser Chris LaCivita are Wiles appointments, meaning that offering either of them up as a midterm scapegoat could expose her own role.
Instead, allies of Wiles have reportedly begun a campaign of private briefings aimed at Hegseth and Rubio. As secretary of state, Rubio shares some responsibility for the failed peace talks with Iran, although one source stressed that Vance—not Rubio—was the central figure in the negotiations.
“It sets up a situation in which Rubio or his allies will say, well no, Mr President, you had JD negotiate in Iran not me,” the source said. “And that then sets up Vance and Rubio on a collision course.”
“The President is pretty well insulated,” a former Trump official said, describing a firewall of Wiles loyalists who control access to him. Aide Natalie Harp is pictured at right.
Wiles’s allies have reportedly begun targeting Hegseth (right) and Rubio (center), who as secretary of state shares responsibility for the failed Iran peace negotiations. One source, however, said Vance was the lead negotiator.
Vance’s involvement in the abandoned Iran negotiations is well established. Trump personally sent him to Islamabad and Geneva with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Vance and Rubio—two of the leading potential contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028—now have clear political incentives to blame one another for the war that cost their party control of Congress.
According to a senior Trump official, that conflict is precisely the objective.
“Susie is looking to protect herself but ultimately she’s also trying to protect the boss,” the official said.
“Shifting the blame to Hegseth, putting Rubio in the firing line, and giving JD a headache guarantees her survival post-midterm but also protects Trump’s legacy.”