Trump brushes off impeachment talk after Democrats seize Congress

Donald Trump isn't losing sleep over impeachment. Speaking Wednesday in his first public appearance since Republicans got thumped in the midterms, the president said the prospect of Democrats trying to remove him doesn't worry him, per Breaking The News. Not even a little bit, he made clear.

With Democrats now set to control Congress, Trump fired a warning shot of his own: an impeachment attempt built on no legitimate grounds would backfire spectacularly and tear the Democratic Party apart. He framed the whole idea as absurd, asking what the charge would even be — running a country that's winning? In his telling, the United States is more successful right now than at any point in its history.

The president also shut down a bit of post-election personnel chatter. Asked whether he might tap Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for the Tennessee Senate seat opening up now that Marsha Blackburn has won the governor's race, Trump said replacing him isn't on the table. He thinks Hegseth is doing a very good job where he is.

On the election post-mortem, Trump conceded it's largely true the war with Iran cost Republicans at the polls — but he pinned the damage on short-term pain at the gas pump rather than the conflict itself. He said he'd make the same call again, arguing you can't let Iran get a nuclear weapon. The longer-term stakes, in his view, justified the hit.

Democrats aren't waiting around. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, in line to become speaker, said Trump's tariffs and the Iran war have to stop, pledging to fight for an affordable America. He also called for reversing Medicaid cuts and extending Affordable Care Act tax credits.

Republicans, meanwhile, are doing their own autopsy. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called the midterm shellacking an extinction-level event and one of the party's worst setbacks in a century, noting that come January only one of the ten most populous states will have a GOP governor.