Trump Purge Begins: Who Could Take Midterm Election Blame?

Donald Trump managed to keep his anger largely hidden in front of the cameras.

Just hours after Democrats captured both chambers of Congress in one of the most damaging midterm defeats in recent political history, the President called Fox News late Tuesday and delivered an unusually gracious message to his opponents.

“Democrats did a good job,” he said. “They fought hard.”

In an interview with the New York Times, Trump said he was prepared to accept the outcome and would prefer negotiating with Democrats during the final two years of his presidency rather than repeatedly vetoing their legislation.

By Wednesday morning, he was answering questions at the construction site of his new White House ballroom, projecting the detachment of a president discussing events beyond his control.

Trump once again insisted he had not been on the ballot, despite urging voters to treat the election as a referendum on his leadership. He also said he had no intention of reshuffling his Cabinet, arguing that the result had nothing to do with his senior officials.

Away from the ballroom and its cameras, however, Trump was busy making calls—and searching for someone to blame.

After Republican operatives singled out Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as possible fall guys, Trump appeared, after only a few hours of sleep, to be considering another target.

A White House insider familiar with the President’s calls told Our News Outlet that Trump asked several close advisers whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should remain in office. Two additional insiders confirmed the account.

After Chief of Staff Susie Wiles (right) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were named by Republican operatives seeking a scapegoat, Trump appeared to settle on a different possible target.

Those sources now believe Hegseth could be removed before the new Congress takes office next January. The timing, they said, may have less to do with Trump’s personal frustration than with the political calculations surrounding his replacement.

Once Democrats assume control of the Senate, winning confirmation for a new Pentagon chief would become a far more difficult battle—one the White House may prefer to avoid.

“Trump is making phone calls and considering it,” a senior Republican said.

According to one source, the issue is not necessarily the Iran war itself—now blamed by some conservatives, including Vice President JD Vance, for Tuesday’s defeat. Instead, concern has focused on what Trump was told about the conflict and when he received that information. The source said the President repeatedly learned important operational developments in the Persian Gulf only after they had occurred.

“There’s always some new information that he’s finding out after the fact,” a White House insider said. The source claimed Trump had demanded to know why Iran’s surface-to-air defenses and missile systems remained intact after Hegseth had repeatedly said the US military had destroyed them.

The source also alleged that Trump had sometimes learned about threats only after those dangers had materialized.

Another source offered a blunt assessment: “The defense secretary is responsible for understanding and accurately explaining what can be done, as well as the risks involved. No one else carries that responsibility.”

The White House has rejected the suggestion that Hegseth is in danger. Spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Trump continues to have complete confidence in him. A Pentagon spokesperson echoed that position, saying: “Secretary Hegseth always provides the President and senior White House leaders with the full operational picture.”

A veteran Republican operative said there was another reason the administration might want to act quickly. The incoming Democratic House is expected to target Hegseth, potentially leading to impeachment proceedings and a Senate trial—an outcome viewed as undesirable by both the White House and the President.

Late Wednesday, Kentucky Democrat Thomas Massie told CNN that he intended to force a vote on impeaching Hegseth when Congress returns next week.

Meanwhile, Susie Wiles—the powerful chief of staff whom many Republicans are privately blaming for the loss—appears to have escaped the immediate danger. Multiple insiders said she is expected to survive the coming “purge” by employing a distinctly Trumpian form of political maneuvering: setting Cabinet heavyweights Vance and Rubio against each other while keeping herself out of the line of fire.

Vance moved quickly to attribute the election result to the Iran war in a statement released Wednesday morning, stopping just short of directly blaming Trump.

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

But did Trump actually say that?

Sources described Vance’s 600-word statement as a carefully calculated attempt to distance himself from the unpopular Iran conflict, which many Americans blame for worsening the cost-of-living crisis. They said it also appeared designed to shift responsibility toward administration hawks such as Hegseth and Rubio as Vance begins positioning himself for a possible 2028 presidential campaign.

Asked about Vance’s comments at the ballroom construction site, Trump chose not to challenge him. He called the assessment “largely true,” arguing that the war had pushed up gasoline prices “in the short term.” But he added: “You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

Inside the West Wing, however, there is disagreement over whether Trump knew Vance’s statement was coming.

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“The President was blindsided by the tweet,” one White House official told Our News Outlet, insisting Trump had not approved the statement before it was posted.

A second official offered the opposite account: “Yes, the White House knew before the post went out. POTUS was briefed in advance and had no issue with it. That is why he supported it when reporters asked him about it.”

Another source close to the administration gave a similar version, saying the statement had been brought to the White House’s attention and cleared before publication.

Within hours, Donald Trump Jr., the President’s eldest son, publicly backed Vance’s post on X.

Don Jr is widely regarded as one of Vance’s most influential allies inside Trump’s political circle.

“The President was blindsided by the tweet,” a White House official told Our News Outlet, claiming Trump had not authorized Vance’s statement before it was published.

Not everyone close to the President viewed Vance’s intervention favorably.

“It’s too little, too late,” a senior Trump official said. “He [Vance] didn’t even have the courage to say the Iran war was a mistake—only that it was the reason we lost.”

“It’s pathetic, honestly. If he wants any chance in 2028, he needs to be willing to risk Trump’s anger.”

As speculation over Hegseth’s future grew, one potential successor began appearing in political discussions. Several reports on Wednesday suggested that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had been mentioned as a possible replacement.

Senior White House sources, however, dismissed that possibility.

“Meatball Ron once believed he could take control of President Trump’s party and was humiliated,” a White House official told Our News Outlet. “Republican voters already made clear what they thought of his ambitions, but apparently his ego still hasn’t understood the message.”

Washington has not forgotten that DeSantis dismissed Wiles, who managed his 2018 campaign for governor.

On Tuesday night, Wiles and Trump aide Natalie Harp remained with the President as he watched the “blue wave” roll in from the privacy of his White House residence. Trump refused to join his staff’s election-night gathering downstairs or meet with anyone else.

“The President is fairly insulated,” a former Trump official said, describing a protective network of Wiles loyalists who control access to him.

Only Cabinet officials and major donors are generally able to reach Trump from outside that inner circle.

According to the former official, Wiles has two vulnerabilities: Natalie Harp and housing finance director Bill Pulte. Both have unusually direct access to Trump because he is personally fond of them, limiting Wiles’s ability to keep them away.

Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair and Trump adviser Chris LaCivita are both Wiles appointees, meaning that offering either man up as a midterm scapegoat could ultimately expose her own role.

Instead, Wiles’s allies have reportedly launched a briefing campaign aimed at Hegseth and Rubio. As secretary of state, Rubio shares some responsibility for the failed peace talks with Iran, although one source stressed that he was not the central figure in those negotiations—Vance was.

“It creates a situation where Rubio or his allies can tell the President, ‘No, Mr. President, you had JD negotiate in Iran, not me,’” the source said. “That puts Vance and Rubio on a collision course.”

“The President is fairly insulated,” a former Trump official said, describing a firewall of Wiles loyalists who control access to him. Pictured at right is aide Natalie Harp.

Wiles’s allies have reportedly begun targeting Hegseth (right) and Rubio (center), who shares responsibility as secretary of state for the failed Iran peace negotiations. One source, however, said Vance—not Rubio—was the principal figure in the talks.

Vance’s involvement in the abandoned Iran negotiations is well established. Trump personally assigned him to travel to Islamabad and Geneva with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Vance and Rubio, the two Republicans most often mentioned as potential 2028 presidential contenders, now have a powerful incentive to blame one another for the war that cost their party control of Congress.

A senior Trump official said that rivalry is precisely the intended outcome.

“Susie is trying to protect herself, but ultimately she is also trying to protect the boss,” the official said.

“Blaming Hegseth, placing Rubio under pressure and creating problems for JD may secure her position after the midterms while also shielding Trump’s legacy.”