It’s important that Democrats understand that Trump’s winning margin was as tiny as his hands, because he will simply keep repeating the word “mandate” until Congress and the media are hypnotized into submission. Don’t let him get away with it.
Joan Walsh in The Nation:
As blue Western states and cities finish counting votes, it looks like the popular vote “landslide” projected for Donald Trump last week turned out to be a trickle. When all the votes are counted, he will end up with a margin of roughly two points over Vice President Kamala Harris. Presidents Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and Richard Nixon in 1972 won more than 60 percent of the popular vote; Ronald Reagan in 1984 won 58 percent. Those were landslides.
Jonathan Chait in New York Magazine:
Upon learning that he had won a clear election victory, Donald Trump responded, as is his custom, with a transparent lie. “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” he gloated.
Reporters did not bother pointing out that there is no sense in which this claim lies anywhere within the range of plausibility. When you’re talking about historical precedent, impressive mandates that come to mind are Franklin Roosevelt in 1936, Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and Richard Nixon in 1972, all of whom won by more than 20 percentage points. Polarization has made victories on this scale apparently impossible, but even in recent years, Bill Clinton’s victories (five and then eight points) and Barack Obama’s (seven, four) dwarf Trump’s.
Mind you, Bill Clinton did it with a credible third-party candidate running. But of course, he has much bigger hands than Trump, too.
Josh Marshall on Twitter:
Every time someone repeats this none-sense abt a “conclusive mandate” or biggest in 40 yrs remind yourself it’s a crock. By any measure. Electorally it’s identical to Joe Biden’s; not even totally clear yet Trump breaks 50% or wins the popular vote. Both of Obama’s victories were bigger.
Trump won. That’s what counts; he gets vast power because of that. This biggest mandate ever nonsense is just razzmatazz to psych people out and create this idea that he’s entitled or supported in remaking the country in MAGA’s image. That’s not how it works. He’s entitled to do whatever he and his thin congressional majorities can legally get away with. Obviously that adverb ‘legally’ is more than just a throwaway line in this case. But that’s our world right now.
Mandates aren’t real in any case. Folks like Trump throw around the word like it’s a sort of electoral claim check to remake the country. Again, razzmatazz & flummery. A head fake, the kind of showy arm-waving & bold talk any conman does. If you win 55% of the vote or more, this might be vaguely more plausible. Not even cracking 50% – which is where this is likely to end up – doesn’t get you there.
Yep, as our favorite Twitter voice says:
