Denial won’t save Donald Trump or his enablers

Just after 1:00 this afternoon, Donald Trump stood by himself in front of a steel beam with an American flag and a Christmas tree attached to it and delivered his first public remarks following his crushing defeat just the night before. For 21 minutes, he rambled on about his beloved construction projects, seemingly determined to talk about anything other than the humiliating election results that had just handed Democrats control of Congress.

But it was the questions from reporters that finally broke him. When he was asked about impeachment and whether he was worried about it, he responded, “Not even a little bit. It would, I think it would destroy, I think it would destroy the Democrat Party if they did that, because impeachment for no reason. What? For having a successful country? Our country is more successful now than at any time in its history.” The anger then flashed across his face, and he barked at the reporters, “Watch the beam go up,” before turning and walking away.

But the reporters were not going to let it go, and eventually they were able to ask more questions. When they brought up the war in Iran, he started to answer before abruptly shifting his attention to the construction workers walking across the steel beams, explaining how they needed very good balance and how there weren’t many people who could do what they were doing. A reporter tried to redirect him back to the war, but Trump continued talking about the workers, saying, “You know what? They fall sometimes, and when they fall, it’s terrible.” The reporter had to ask again, “Sir, so when do you think it will end? When will the war end?” Donald Trump finally responded, “Whenever I want it to,” before continuing to ramble for a bit longer and getting distracted once again by the steel beam.

This was the President of the United States just hours after his country delivered a historic blow to his grip on power. And instead of confronting that defeat, he decided to summon the press to a construction site to admire marble and steel because it was the last place on earth where things still went the way he wanted them to. It was a place where he knew he could get a round of applause from the workers being paid to be there, and where he would have a captive audience in the reporters there to document the event. As he stood there, the parallels to past strongmen, and especially to the final days of Nazi Germany’s reign, became even more apparent. As Berlin was being bombed and Germany’s defeat was becoming unavoidable, Adolf Hitler spent hours in the basement of the Reich Chancellery entranced by an architectural model of Linz, Austria, and the fantasy city he planned to transform after a victory that was never coming, but that he refused to accept was lost. That was far from his only architectural obsession. There was also “Germania,” the grand capital Hitler intended to build in Berlin, complete with an enormous hall planned to hold 180,000 people and a triumphal arch so massive that it would dwarf the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The similarities are almost uncanny.

Hours later, he once again proved how oblivious he was to the reality he is now facing come January when he went on Truth Social to complain about how dark the sky was getting. He posted about daylight saving time and how the Senate should have passed the bill to stop changing the clocks. Yet buried inside the post was also this: “I didn’t want to make a big deal out of this prior to the Election because I didn’t want to have certain Senators lose their Race, in a landslide.” He is already rewriting the story of what happened yesterday, trying to convince the country that this was not a real defeat, and that it certainly had very little to do with him.

Donald Trump might be in denial, but the world noticed. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said the Democratic landslide was emblematic of the unraveling of the global far right, and applauded Americans for voting against “policies that only make people poorer” and against “hate, sexism, climate denial, and the privileges of the elites.” Across Europe, leaders from Germany to Norway to the European Parliament expressed cautious hope that the results could benefit Ukraine, trade relations, and global stability. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister admitted that the Democrats’ approach would be “extremely negative” toward Russia, which shows who benefited from Trump’s unchecked power.

The most revealing reaction came from inside Trump’s own inner circle when Vice President J.D. Vance posted a long statement pointing to the war in Iran as the primary reason Republicans lost. When a reporter asked Trump about what J.D. had said, he seemed to agree, saying, “Well, I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term.” He agreed that the war was to blame but refused to accept responsibility for the fact that he was the one who started the war without congressional approval.

As much as Trump’s response today seemed measured and restrained, what the White House published later in the day said otherwise. They shared the roadmap they plan to take to fight back against the Democrats and hold on to his agenda. “President Trump Will Again Defy the Odds, the Fake News, and the Radical Left.” The announcement went on to say, “Every time the Radical Left, the Fake News, and the professional panic class have written President Trump’s obituary, they have been wrong. They will be wrong again. In the final two years of his presidency, Democrats will try — and fail — to reverse everything President Trump has done.” They then added a list of his supposed successes that read like a propaganda pamphlet and ended it with this: “These efforts will fail; the American people have already rejected this agenda. President Trump’s record is a contrast they cannot erase: border security, the end of DEI, energy independence, the protection of our kids, and much more. Attempts to impeach him, claw back his agenda, or reverse the gains of his Administration will meet the same fate as the Radical Left’s previous attempts: failure. President Trump will never stop fighting.”

Regardless of what Trump or his enablers say, accountability, real accountability, is coming and it might start even sooner than we thought. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie has eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ready to go and has said he intends to seek a vote as soon as next week. The articles accuse Hegseth of waging war without congressional authorization, ordering extrajudicial killings, retaliating against a sitting senator, directing the seizure of a sovereign foreign leader in Venezuela, and initiating military operations in Yemen, all without the approval of Congress. When Massie first introduced these articles in September, Speaker Mike Johnson sent the entire House home early to avoid the vote. He canceled Congress to protect Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth. That protection is over now. Hegseth seems to know what is coming, too, and there is word that he is being considered to fill a Senate vacancy in Tennessee.

As far as what the future looks like for accountability, Representative Robert Garcia, the Democrat in line to chair the House Oversight Committee, laid out a very aggressive investigative agenda, one the likes of which we haven’t seen in modern times. He noted that the “single biggest part of our work is going to be focused on the Trump crime family.” He said Trump has “committed crimes” and “impeachable offenses, and I think it’s our job to build the case and to provide the evidence.” On day one, Garcia plans to subpoena Attorney General Todd Blanche and other administration officials for public, on-camera testimony about the Epstein files, more than two million pages of which the Justice Department withheld. He said they will investigate the Trump family’s business dealings, including the billions flowing through Jared Kushner’s investment fund while Kushner simultaneously shapes Middle East policy. He is also building a master ICE tracker where the public can upload videos of agent misconduct, and he plans to hold congressional field hearings so that the people affected by the raids can testify on the record. He intends to question Elon Musk about his time running the Department of Government Efficiency. Working alongside Jamie Raskin on the Judiciary Committee, Garcia is building an investigative infrastructure we have never seen before.

He also issued a warning to corporate America: “If you’re a big corporation and you’re working with the administration on corruption, or funneling money to the Trump family, you better watch out for Oversight.” Every ICE agent who brutalized a community, every official who signed off on an unlawful raid, and every executive who cut a deal with this regime or funded this decrepit administration should all be looking over their shoulders right now because accountability is on its way. The people who spent the last two years spreading their venomous hatred out in the open, the ones who felt emboldened to terrorize communities and dehumanize their neighbors, the ones who wrapped fascism in an American flag and called it patriotism, their time in the spotlight is ending. We need to make them scared to show their faces, and we need to send them back into hiding with the full weight of the law. We need them to know that law and order is back. We will no longer stand by while they trample on our constitutional rights, terrorize our communities, and act as though the laws of this country apply to everyone but them.

Donald Trump still has the presidency for two more years, and with that comes executive power. Before his reign of terror is over, we are going to be tested in ways we can’t even imagine. We need to celebrate this monumental win and then recenter ourselves for the battle ahead. Very soon, there will be talk about our emerging presidential candidates, and we need to stay focused on mitigating Trump’s worst impulses and making sure the next president we elect is a leader with integrity who cares about this country the way it deserves to be cared for.

This morning, without even thinking about it, I put on a blue dress before I headed to a doctor’s appointment. My daughter came along with me and she was also wearing all blue. When the doctor walked in, they, too, were wearing bright blue scrubs. Even the receptionist was celebrating with a blue sweater. Nobody coordinated this, and there was no widespread call for everyone to wear blue. It just happened because so many of us were looking for a way to celebrate, and we finally had something worth celebrating. Nearly every single person I saw today mentioned the relief and joy that they were feeling, and these were not all Democrats. There were plenty of independents and even some Republican holdouts. After two years of hell being unleashed on the American people and our allies across the world, it just felt good to be proud of our country for the first time in a very long time, and to know that our country came together and had finally done something right.

The fight ahead of us will not be easy, especially with Donald Trump and his enablers reigniting the attack on the “fake news.” It is going to take those of us writing these posts every night, the content creators, independent journalists, everyday people speaking out, all of us who can reach different corners of the country with the truth to keep getting the facts out there and hold those in power accountable. Because the Trump-washed propaganda is not going away. The billionaires and their money are not going away. The only thing that counters them is the truth, delivered by people who answer to no one but their readers and who can’t be swayed by advertisers or corporate interests.

I made a decision from the start that I would not accept outside funding, because I never wanted anyone to have a say in what I write or how I write it. I answer only to you. That is why every single thing I write is free and never behind a paywall, because everyone deserves access to the truth, especially now. I want to thank all of you who are able to support this work with your paid subscriptions, which start at just five dollars a month, because you are the reason I can keep doing this every single night. I cannot thank you enough for entrusting me with this work. I never planned for this to be my full-time calling, but I can’t imagine not being here in this fight in this way. The last two years have been some of the most challenging of my life, with the threats and harassment, but that didn’t stop me and never will. I am committed to seeing this to the end and beyond.

Tonight, I’m asking you to think beyond me and to your other favorite voices who are there day in and day out. Please see if they, too, offer a paid subscription, and if it will not cause a financial strain for you, please join their paid communities as well. It is going to take as many voices as possible to make sure this momentum holds up, and we finally rid ourselves of the MAGA extremism and everything it has unleashed on this country.

When I started writing these posts almost two years ago, I said I was documenting either the downfall of the greatest nation or her greatest comeback. Today, we have our answer. Turns out the American people really do not want a racist, corrupt authoritarian ruling their country. We never did; we just needed to be reminded of what we were capable of, and we showed the world exactly what that looks like. That is why I still have hope for America. You should, too.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Picture of the day: The waves have been strong the past few days. I took this picture on Sunday, and I have it as my screensaver now as a reminder of the power of a blue wave. Something else I have been thinking about is that when Donald Trump disappears for a few days, or when he seems calmer than we are expecting, like he was for the most part today, it’s not normally good news for us. It is often followed by more chaos and cruelty. We will have to see how this plays out, but we definitely can’t let our guard down. Even if he is tired and ready to phone in the rest of his presidency, which I can’t see him doing, the people who are enabling him have too much riding on him to let him do that.

Links to sources used in writing this article:

President Trump Delivers Remarks, Nov. 4, 2026: White House YouTube Video

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/4/seismic-shift-world-reacts-to-us-midterm-election-results

https://www.axios.com/2026/11/04/2026-midterm-election-results-world-leaders-react

https://keyt.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2026/09/15/massie-pushes-surprise-impeachment-vote-of-hegseth-overshadowing-a-democrats-bid-to-impeach-trump/

https://www.washingtonsun.com/house/democrats-vow-day-one-epstein-hearings-if-they-flip-house

https://puck.news/hegseth-impeachment-chatter-and-the-dems-money-shuffle/