President Trump gets almost everything wrong about the Kansas special election in a dumbfounding tweet

Kansas state treasurer Ron Estes (R) won by 7 points in the state's 4th congressional district special election Tuesday. But judging by President Trump's tweet Wednesday morning, you'd think Estes won in a landslide:

That was far from the only aspect of Trump's one-sentence tweet that missed the mark. Estes' win was not exactly as "great" as Trump claimed, and the Republican's narrow victory in the first special election since Trump's inauguration revealed troubles to come for the GOP in future elections.

Moreover, while Democrats may have had their hopes up amid growing dissatisfaction with the Trump administration's rocky first weeks and the deep unpopularity of Kansas' Republican governor, Sam Brownback, it seems an overstatement to say Democrats "predicted victory" in a state that's historically been deep red. In fact, Democratic candidate James Thompson's spokesman even said ahead of the election that Republicans "are absolutely supposed to win this seat."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

As for Trump's claim that Democrats "spent heavily," he may have confused the left for the right. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was actually criticized for how little money it put into the race. The National Republican Congressional Committee, on the other hand, funneled $100,000 into the race — in just the last week.