Not surprisingly, Republicans failing to gain control of the U.S. Senate during the midterm elections despite President Biden’s unfavorable approval ratings is causing the Usual Suspects on the left and in the media (but I repeat myself) to credit Biden’s alleged excellent (!) leadership skills as the reason why their party narrowly avoided disaster.

But while that’s one of the more laughable explanations being given for why Democrats seemingly overperformed in critical Senate races, an even more fantastical tale is being spun by none other than Biden’s co-president and chief of staff Ron Klain, who went on MSNBC Monday and proceeded to tell quite the whopper to “The Last Word” host Lawrence O’Donnell about what he suggested was a historic moment on the Senate side in modern-day electoral politics.

As you can see from the below clip, Klain said during his interview that this was the first time since 1962 that a president had actually held Senate seats in a midterm election year and possibly stood to gain one. It was a false claim, as also noted below:

White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain claims that "no president since JFK has held senate seats and potentially go up one senate seat" in a midterm.

In 2018, Republicans increased their senate majority by 2 seats under President Trump. pic.twitter.com/rjadi7OcBt

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 15, 2022

And Trump wasn’t the only one, as independent journalist Jim Stinson also observed in a lengthy thread, the key posts from which are shared here:

The best MIDTERM performance on the Senate side by a party holding the White House since 1960 was:

1) 1962. Kennedy. Dems pick up 4 seats despite midterm.
2) 2002. Bush. Despite recession, GOP picks up 2 seats and control of Senate.

So .. 2022 yet, @MSNBC? No. (2)

— Jim Stinson (@jimstinson) November 15, 2022

2a) Tied for second place is Trump's 2018 midterm. The @NRSC knocked off four Democratic Senate incumbents. The Dems knocked off 2 Republican senators. In the end, the GOP Senate majority *gained* 2 seats in an otherwise terrible midterm. (3)

— Jim Stinson (@jimstinson) November 15, 2022

“In 1970, Richard Nixon aggressively went after Sen. Al Gore Sr. (D) and the GOP also won Maryland. The GOP beat three Dem incumbents while Nixon was president. Net pickup for GOP: +1. People forget this one,” Stinson added.

Stinson later pointed out that liberally biased ABC News “reporter” Jon Karl also made the false claim over the summer about no president since Kennedy in 1962 winning Senate seats in a midterm election, which was called out at the time by Fox News media reporter Brian Flood:

ABC News Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl wrongly told viewers on Sunday that John F. Kennedy was the last first-term president to pick up Senate seats when it actually happened as recently as the last midterms.

“It looks like Dems could pick up maybe even a couple of seats in the Senate. No first-term president has picked up Senate seats in the midterms since JFK,” Karl said. “Is it going to happen this time?”

There’s no question that Democrats had a better Election Day than many predicted they would, while Republicans fell far short of their goals. But while the GOP “what went wrong” debates are underway and the overselling by Democrats is in full effect, let the record show that on the issue of midterm elections, it’s not uncommon for the president’s party to either hold the Senate or gain a seat or two, regardless of how low his approval ratings are.

Related: Coping Underway as Joe Biden, House Democrats Come to Terms With Reality