The president told advisers he does not want the Republican defeat to be seen as a referendum on him.
Washington - Shortly after Democrat Doug Jones wrested back one of Alabama's solidly Republican Senate seats for the first time in more than two decades, President Donald Trump offered an optimistic and forward-looking assessment on Twitter, congratulating Jones on his "hard fought victory."
But by Wednesday morning, as Trump watched the unflattering portrait of the loss unfold on television, the president grew piqued at the notion that he, somehow, was responsible.