Pete Hegseth facing IMPEACHMENT - already!

JD Vance went on Twitter Wednesday to explain what happened Tuesday night, and he didn’t bother hedging.

“The reason we lost is the war,” he wrote. “The president himself said so last night.”

The problem wasn’t turnout, he said. “The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.”

He passed along what a pollster told him those voters want: end the war, focus on the cost of living, put America First, and “Change our relationship to Israel.”

A pollster told him those voters want four things. End the war, focus on the cost of living, put America First, and “Change our relationship to Israel.”

Don Jr. even reposted it and added, “Every word of this is 100 100 100.”

Sean Hannity got there first. Asked by Bret Baier on election night whether the results would have been different without the war, he said, “I think 100 percent.”

Trump was asked about his vice president’s post at the White House. “I think it was fine. Yeah, I thought it was good,” he said.

Then he defended the war anyway.

“If I had it to do again, I’d have to do it again because long term, it’s the only answer.”

Until Wednesday, Vance had publicly supported the war.

Trump took questions Wednesday afternoon at his ballroom construction site.

Asked if he regretted how he closed the campaign, he said Republicans would have won if he’d been on the ballot. “We weren’t able to transfer the love to candidates,” he said.

Asked if he was concerned about impeachment, he said, “Not even a little bit.”

“I think it would destroy the Democrat Party if they did that. It’s impeachment for no reason. What, for having a successful country?”

Asked when the war will end, he said, “Whenever I want it to.”

He talked up the ballroom too. “There has never been anything built like this, and it’s for the country, and it’s free, we got it free of charge, thank you very much,” he said.

Then he said “Watch the beam go up,” turned, and walked away from the questions.

The night before, the White House had set up an election watch party in the East Room, with Cheesecake Factory finger food. By the time the House was called just before 10 p.m., the room had emptied and the food was left on the tables, uneaten, the Daily Mail reported.

Trump watched upstairs with Susie Wiles and Natalie Harp. “It’s very, very dark in the residence,” a senior official said.

His staff spent the rest of the night at a bar down the street.

Rep. Thomas Massie told CNN he’ll trigger a vote to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth when Congress returns next week.

Multiple GOP sources expect it to pass.

“You don’t screw up this badly an election with just one issue,” Massie said. “It was completely avoidable if they’d just broken out of the cultish following of Donald Trump.”

Republicans close to the White House are already lining Hegseth up to take the fall. “If the president is serious about anyone taking responsibility for it, it’s Pete Hegseth,” one told CNN.

Trump is sticking with him for now. He defended the war Wednesday and denied any plans to fire his defense secretary.

Hegseth’s spokesman, Sean Parnell, said Hegseth “will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points or launch phony investigations where no wrongdoing exists.”

The politicians in question are Republicans.

Meanwhile in South Carolina, retired Rear Adm. Nancy Lacore, one of the officers pushed out under Hegseth, claimed victory in Nancy Mace’s old seat. The race hasn’t been officially called, but she leads by about a point and says her Republican opponent called to concede.

“In a district Donald Trump won by 13 points just two years ago, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents came together to demand something better from Washington,” Lacore said.

Hegseth pushed her out. The Lowcountry voted her in.

House Speaker Mike Johnson won’t try to stay on as the leader of House Republicans in the new Congress, two people familiar with his decision told the AP on Wednesday. He’ll stay in the House as a rank-and-file member from Louisiana.

Axios reported that he had publicly insisted he would remain the party’s top leader no matter how the election went.

The race to replace him is a rerun from 2023, Majority Leader Steve Scalise against Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan. Last time, Scalise beat Jordan 113 to 99 in the conference vote, then dropped out. Jordan went on to lose three floor votes.

“My number one goal as leader will be to win back the majority, and I expect you to hold me accountable to that mission,” Scalise wrote to colleagues.

House Republicans vote on Nov. 10. Trump says he’ll “stay out” of it.

In 2023, both men wanted the gavel. Now they’re fighting over who gets to hand it to Hakeem Jeffries.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick conceded to Democrat Vikki Goodwin, a state representative, who led him 52% to 46% with 99% of precincts reporting.

“This was a wave election in Texas and across the country,” Patrick said. “Whether it was about affordability, gas prices, data centers, 765-kV lines, or any other issue important to them, I respect how the people voted.”

He couldn’t resist a parting shot. “Their democratic socialist policies will fail, as they have in every country in the world,” he said.

He also said, “I am the most blessed person you could ever meet.”

Goodwin joins Gina Hinojosa, who ousted Greg Abbott despite being outspent by tens of millions of dollars, and Senator-elect James Talarico.

Patrick says the Texas GOP now “has serious work to do to begin the process of taking our state back from Democrat control.”

Texas Republicans haven’t had to write a sentence like that since the early ’90s.

Democrats won so big the Electoral College may be dead.

The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is a deal among states to give all their electoral votes to whoever wins the most votes nationwide.

It only kicks in once its members add up to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Eighteen states and D.C. have signed on. The compact is 48 electoral votes short.

On Tuesday, according to the National Popular Vote campaign, voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona gave Democrats both legislative chambers and the governor’s office. Those five states hold 61 electoral votes.

If all five pass the compact next year, it would reach 283, 13 more than it needs.

Twice this century, in 2000 and 2016, the candidate with fewer votes moved into the White House. The second one is still there.

It still has to pass five legislatures and get five governors’ signatures, and Republicans are sure to take it to court.

We think it belongs at the top of every one of those to-do lists.