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After saying he was on the ballot, Trump insists he 'wasn't on the ballot'

The day before Election Day, Trump declared, "In a certain way, I am on the ballot." Now, after seeing the results, he's saying the opposite.
Image: President Trump Holds Make America Great Again Rally In Pennsylvania
WILKES BARRE, PA - AUGUST 02: President Donald J. Trump speaks to a large crowd on August 2, 2018 at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes Barre,...

At a campaign rally in Missouri in September, Donald Trump tried to explain to supporters why the 2018 midterms were so important. "Get out in 2018, because you're voting for me in 2018," the president said. "You're voting for me. You're voting for me."

Two weeks later, the president told a different audience, "I'm not on the ticket, but I am on the ticket because this is also a referendum about me."

The day before Election Day, Trump went so far as to declare, "Even though I'm not on the ballot, in a certain way I am on the ballot."

In his latest Fox News interview, which aired yesterday, Chris Wallace reminded the president that Republicans suffered significant losses in the Rust Belt. "If you can't carry -- and you certainly didn't carry it two weeks ago -- Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania -- you're not going to get re-elected," the host explained. Trump, after insisting that the entire cycle was a referendum on him, replied:

"I didn't run. I wasn't running. My name wasn't on the ballot."

Minutes earlier, in the same interview, Trump said, "I won the Senate, you don't mention that.... I won the Senate.... I won the Senate, and that's historic, too."

So to recap, Trump wants the public to believe he both was and wasn't on the ballot, and that House losses don't count, while Senate victories do.

Remember, the president has had two weeks to come up with a proper defense for the Republican Party's big step backwards in this election cycle, and this is what he's come up with so far.