Mandate? What Mandate?
Donald Trump supporters claim he has a mandate, but does he?
Winning politicians love to throw around the word mandate to justify their forthcoming actions and agendas but it almost invariably backfires. In 2004, President George W. Bush got three million more votes than Democrat John Kerry and claimed a mandate after he won reelection to a second term with 51% of the popular vote. Bush promptly overreached and tried to dismantle (“restructure”) Social Security and the federal tax code. Both attempts failed miserably because they were overwhelming unpopular, contrary to his claim of a "mandate.”
Donald Trump is walking into the same trap, while starting from an even weaker position than Bush did. Trump won the popular vote, but he did not receive a majority. As of this writing, he is leading Democrat Kamala Harris 49.97% – 48.23%. California alone still has close to a million uncounted ballets including over 818k ballots to count and 130k to cure. Statewide, Harris is getting ~70% which equates to ~380k more votes than Trump. In other words, Trump’s margin over Harris will continue to fall as the final votes are tallied.
To legitimately claim a mandate that would allow Trump to make generational changes as he plans to attempt, a politician would need to win overwhelmingly, and not just in the heavily-skewed and painfully unequal Electoral College. Trump won 58% of the Electoral College votes but less than 50% of the popular vote. No other democracy on the planet uses such an unrepresentative system of electing their leader and a resounding Electoral College victory does not lend legitimacy to claims of a mandate.
Trump is filling his Cabinet with yes-men and women who are so enamored of power that they’ll do anything to keep it, including violating the Constitution. Our nation is on the brink of totalitarianism and we are entering dangerous territory.
Fortunately (?) the quality and competence of most of his sycophants are exceptionally low. They will overreach, Trump will overreach, but half the country will push back. It’s likely that millions more who actually voted for Trump will also push back once they see the effects of their vote on their own lives and their own families. They won’t be able to revoke their vote, but that doesn’t mean they’ll blindly acquiesce when the consequences of Trump’s policies become truly personal.
The next year will be challenging but patriotic Americans, whether Democrat or Republican, are more likely than not to save our country from collapse. Take a breather and come back stronger. Don’t give up hope, and don’t give up the fight.
And remember, Donald Trump and the billionaire oligarchs like Elon Musk might be winning for the moment, but Trump does not have a mandate to disregard the Constitution or remake the country into his version of Russia or North Korea.
We will prevail.
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I like the cut of your jib, sir.