President Donald Trump tweeted Monday that Republicans will do "very well" in 2018 on the heels of a report that said he will aggressively campaign in the first midterm of his presidency.
The Washington Post, citing officials and advisers familiar with Trump's thinking, reported the president plans to extensively campaign and hold rallies in 2018 as Republicans try to hold onto their majorities in the House and Senate.
Smarting from Republican Roy Moore's loss in Alabama, Trump also wrote he said Moore and Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie would lose their races.
Moore, whose campaign was dogged by sexual misconduct allegations, won Trump's endorsement in the closing days of the race, but he still lost to Democrat Doug Jones on Tuessday in a state Trump carried by 28 points in 2016.
"Remember, Republicans are 5-0 in Congressional Races this year. The media refuses to mention this. I said Gillespie and Moore would lose (for very different reasons), and they did. I also predicted "I" would win. Republicans will do well in 2018, very well! @foxandfriends," Trump wrote, presumably because he was watching his preferred cable morning show.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/942717030091943936
The party of sitting presidents historically do poorly in midterm elections, and Trump's low approval ratings could be an anchor around Republicans trying to keep their seats.
The past three midterm races have gone especially badly for the party of whoever was in the White House at that time. President Barack Obama's Democrats were crushed in the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections, and President George W. Bush's Republicans took a "thumping," as he called it, in 2006.