“We did this in spite of a very dramatic fundraising disadvantage, driven by Democrats, wealthy donors, special interests, and very hostile media coverage, to put it mildly,” he said. “The media coverage set a new record and a new standard.”

He also clashed with reporters several times during the press conference, with the most heated confrontation coming with CNN’s Jim Acosta, a frequent sparring partner, who challenged Trump’s labeling of a migrant caravan currently in Mexico as an “invasion.” As the colloquy ended, Trump sniped, “CNN should be ashamed of themselves having you work for them. You are a rude, terrible person and should not be working for CNN.”

Trump said he hoped that the “tone” in the country will get better, but he absolved himself of any responsibility for that. “I really believe it begins with the media,” he said.

Read: The Democrats are back, and ready to take on Trump.

It was a drastic shift from the chastened reactions of Barack Obama, who labeled the Republican victory in the 2010 midterms a “shellacking,” or George W. Bush, who called the Democratic wave in 2006 “a thumpin’.”

Indeed, there are a few reasons for Trump to be smug as the smoke clears. To begin with, as Trump’s defenders were quick to point out, the president’s party almost always loses ground in the midterms. And while Democrats posted big gains in the House, Republicans added at least three seats in the Senate. They limited Democratic gains at the state level. In Florida races close to the president’s heart, two of his close allies won both the Senate and gubernatorial seats over lightly favored Democrats. The gains in the Senate will make it easier for Trump to appoint judges, arguably the most successful area of his presidency. Meanwhile, as McKay Coppins writes, the midterms already demonstrated that Trump’s hold over the GOP is solidified—another win.

On the other hand, overselling defeats as wins is Trump’s signature move, honed in years in the real-estate business. As recently as August, the president promised a “red wave” in the midterms, but as the election approached, he gradually narrowed that down to a focus on the Senate. In the end, roughly 40 percent of the candidates Trump endorsed on Twitter ended up losing their races.

Read: How Senate Republicans will use their new power

More important, the loss of the House will give Democrats a way to make Trump miserable more or less perpetually for the next two years. Trump has already chafed at working with the House when it was under GOP leadership, bullying and cajoling members—mostly to little effect—in his fight to repeal Obamacare. The president, still accustomed to the business world, was frustrated by the fractious and slow pace of Congress. Now, just as he seemed to be starting to get comfortable, the terrain has shifted.