President Donald Trump on Wednesday declared himself “right!” After being wrong twice.
In an early morning tweet, the commander-in-chief backpedaled from his endorsement of Roy Moore after the Republican candidate lost to Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama’s special Senate election on Tuesday.
Jones’s win represents the second loss for a Trump-backed candidate in the contest. The president initially backed Luther Strange in the Republican primary against Moore, and then swung his support to Moore in the general election. Despite making robo-calls for Moore, Trump said after the fact that he knew Moore would lose all along.
The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017
As the election results came in Tuesday night, Trump tweeted a congratulatory message to Jones, but also pointed out that “the write-in votes play a very big factor.” He continued, “The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!”
Beyond Trump’s initial association with Strange, the president’s endorsement of Moore was controversial since the Republican faced allegations of improper sexual relationships with underage women. Moore denies the claims. The accusations prompted other members of the GOP to keep their distance, but Trump ultimately endorsed Moore in what appeared to be a whole-hearted manner.
Just last week, Trump offered a number of reasons for supporting the candidate on Twitter. In one tweet, he said Republicans need Moore for “his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more.” Trump called Jones a “Pelosi/Schumer puppet,” telling his followers to “VOTE ROY MOORE!”
And on Monday, Trump said he was confident that “the people of Alabama will do the right thing.” Once again, he blasted Jones’s liberal political positions, tweeting, “Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE!” Trump repeatedly defended Moore against the claims of sexual misconduct, pointing out that Moore “totally denies” the allegations.
Trump’s Wednesday tweet indicates that his endorsement wasn’t as sincere as it seemed; regardless, he’s now publicly backed two losing candidates in deep-red Alabama.