Trump is in a massive political slump

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Donald Trump.

• President Donald Trump suffered another major defeat Tuesday night in Alabama.
• It was the third consecutive loss by a candidate Trump provided his full-throated support - and his second in Alabama's Senate race alone.
• Trump-backed candidates Luther Strange, Ed Gillespie, and now Roy Moore have all lost in crucial races within the past three months despite having the president's backing.

President Donald Trump suffered yet another major political defeat Tuesday night in deep-red Alabama - his second loss in one Senate race alone and his third consecutive loss for a candidate he threw his weight behind.

On Tuesday, in a state where Trump won by nearly 30 points in the 2016 presidential election, the candidate he supported, embattled Republican Roy Moore, lost to Democrat Doug Jones by about 1.5 points. Although Moore was facing allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls, Trump provided him his full-throated support in the campaign's final weeks.

It didn't help push Moore over the edge in arguably the most Republican state in the nation.

It also wasn't the first time Trump's preferred candidate lost in Alabama.

Trump threw his support behind incumbent Republican Sen. Luther Strange during the GOP primary for the special Senate election to fill the seat vacated when Jeff Sessions became Trump's attorney general. But Strange, even with Trump's support, was easily beaten by Moore. That election took place more than a month prior to The Washington Post first reporting on the allegations against Moore in early November.

Just days before those allegations were published, a Trump-backed candidate lost another major election when Democrat Ralph Northam crushed GOP nominee Ed Gillespie in Virginia's gubernatorial race.

That marks three straight major races that Trump's choice has been unable to win.

In each instance, Trump was quick to brush aside any notion that his involvement either did not help his preferred candidate win or hurt their chances.

After Strange's defeat, Trump tweeted that the candidate "started way back & ran a good race." Soon after Gillespie lost, Trump tweeted that the nominee "worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for." And after Moore's stunning defeat, Trump tweeted that "write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win," and 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!" he added. "Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!"

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Doug Jones.

'Trump was the one who got Jones within firing range, and Moore allowed Jones to win'

Trump was the only major elected Republican to provide Moore with such full-throated support in the campaign's waning days. As Republican Sen. Ron Johnson said Wednesday, the election results showed that "Alabamians didn't want somebody who dated 14-year-old girls."

Exit polls showed that factor was not all that was at play. Alabama voters were split on whether they approved or disapproved of Trump. As Dean Young, a Moore strategist, told ABC News ahead of the vote, "It is Donald Trump on trial in Alabama."

"Trump was the one who got Jones within firing range, and Moore allowed Jones to win," Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, told Reuters, adding that Democrats have shown higher levels of enthusiasm in each of the 2017 elections, which is a result of Trump's presidency.

Of course, Trump's record in 2017 isn't all losses. Republicans won each of the contested special House elections in 2017, with the biggest being Republican Karen Handel - whom Trump offered full support for - over Democrat Jon Ossoff in Georgia's 6th Congressional District.

For his part, Trump thinks the Republicans need one thing to ensure that his losing streak does not continue - "great" candidates.

"If last night's election proved anything, it proved that we need to put up GREAT Republican candidates to increase the razor thin margins in both the House and Senate," Trump tweeted Wednesday morning.