US President Donald Trump reacts while interacting with workers on the day the final steel beam goes into the ballroom, at the White House in Washington, DC, US, November 4, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
CNN’s Anderson Cooper abruptly moved on from live coverage of Donald Trump’s White House ballroom spectacle Wednesday after the president encouraged reporters to watch a steel beam being lifted into place.
The unusual moment unfolded as Trump fielded questions outside the unfinished ballroom, surrounded by construction equipment and the sounds of ongoing work, just one day after Republicans suffered bruising losses in the midterm elections.
“Watch the beam go up,” Trump declared, pointing his finger up in the air.
But Cooper, hosting CNN’s election coverage Wednesday, had other plans.
“Wow,” he said as the network cut away from the construction zone.
“I don’t think we need to watch the beam go up,” Cooper responded. “Or maybe we could just play the beam going up while we continue to talk.”
“It’s remarkable,” Cooper continued, noting that Trump had blamed the Republican losses on his absence from the ballot despite personally backing candidates who failed to win.
CNN political analyst Alex Thompson pointed to a “candidate quality issue throughout this race.”
“And there seems to be a bit of denial among the president that there was a rejection of his agenda,” he said.