People in President Donald Trump's orbit noticed an unsettling change after Republicans were dealt crushing midterm losses, according to his biographer.
Michael Wolff, a journalist who has written several books about Trump, said on Thursday's episode of "Inside Trump's Head" that two people close to the president described him as "markedly older" the day after Tuesday's election, when Democrats seized control of both the House and Senate.
"The other interesting thing that I heard from two people, and they found it interesting and a little frightening, was that the day after he seemed markedly older," Wolff told co-host Joanna Coles.
Asked for specifics, Wolff pointed to the way Trump carried himself. "While he will never admit his own defeat, he looked like defeat," he said. "He was quieter."
Wolff called a subdued Trump "a really kind of weird Trump symptom."
The only comparison his sources could draw, Wolff said, was to the aftermath of the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, "when suddenly, you know, Trump was listening to people instead of talking." He described it as "a kind of shock."
Coles said the change was audible when Trump phoned into Fox News after the results. "You could definitely sense a shift in his confidence," she said. "And maybe there is a sort of self-realization that they don't love me anymore."
Still, Wolff said Trump has refused to own the loss. People close to the president described him "repeating, I didn't lose. Other people lost, I didn't lose." Trump has also insisted that "the incumbent party always suffers," Wolff added, "as though this is built in."
Wolff called the results "an existential moment" for Trump. "Existentialism does not come naturally to Donald Trump, that is to say, any level of self-awareness," he said.
That doesn't mean Trump is going anywhere. When Coles asked whether the president might resign, Wolff didn't hesitate. "No, no, he's gonna stay," he said. "He's not giving up attention."