Does Trump have a mandate … or not? And who cares?
We see both sides arguing ferociously over the issue of Trump’s mandate … and I didn’t even know he was gay. (Sorry. I couldn’t resist.)
SERIOUSLY, both sides are debating whether the election gave Trump a mandate – or not. Personally, I have always thought that the very concept of a mandate is relatively meaningless. Whether you win by one percent or 40 points, you get the office and all the powers and prerogatives that go with it. In politics, winning is the mandate.
The traditional theory of a mandate is that if you win by a large margin, you have more latitude to act more boldly. That strikes me as more fiction than reality. The power bestowed by the office does not increase or diminish depending on the size of the vote.
Even though the margins are slim in both the Senate and the House, the GOP controls both. They have been given the power to govern by the people. How does a so-called mandate change that?
Trump claims to have a mandate, while his critics say he does not. The latter points out that he won the popular vote by less than one percent at the last counting – and his total has dropped below 50 percent as more votes have come in from California.
So why does Trump think he has one of those ill-defined mandates? Perhaps it is just his tendency to exaggerate. That is part of it, but there are some grounds for seeing his victory as very impressive and empowering — something extraordinary.
Trump’s mandate from the people is based on the breadth of his victory – not the necessary depth. It was a close race nationally, but he showed exceptional strength in every state – even the blue states.
Trump beat Vice President Harris in every one of the battleground states – an accomplishment that was deemed to be virtually impossible by most observers and pundits just days before the votes were counted.
Trump beat his 2020 vote by more than 3 percent in thousands of counties across the country. Conversely, Harris did not do 3 percent better than the Biden/Harris vote in 2020 in any county in America.
Trump improved his numbers with Hispanics – winning a majority of Latino men. He was the first Republican to carry Star County in Texas – the most Hispanic county in America (97%) for the first time since 1892. In 2020, he lost Star County by a 60 point margin. This time he carried it by a comfortable 16 points – a 76-point shift in voter preference.
Trump did better among Blacks – especially the men — even though he was constantly accused of being a racist.
Trump did better with women than he had against Joe Biden in 2020. Trump did better among Blacks and women in 2024 — when running against a Black woman — than he did when running against a White man in 2020. Ponder that for a second.
At the granular level, Trump’s win was so broad and impressive that pundits and political strategists on both sides are calling it a potential realignment – a fundamental and sustainable shift in voter preferences. If this turns out to be a realignment, Trump will be a transitional President in the spirit of Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.
Whether you believe Trump has a mandate or not is less important than if he believes he has one. He will neither be cowed nor proceed with timidity based on the closeness of the national vote. He is poised to execute his plans and policies with vigor and great determination.
There can be no disagreement on one point – Trump won a very substantial and impressive victory. And even more impressive considering the political baggage he carried and the eight-year unprecedented campaign of excessive animosity and unrelenting demonization by a political alliance of determined never-Trumpers.
If Trump believes he has a mandate … and acts like he has a mandate … he has a mandate – even if it was given to him by a small majority of the electorate. All the quibbling over an illusionary mandate is meaningless.
So, there ‘tis.
This article gets a Stop The Spin (STS) rating of 3, here is why:
1) Just a post or two ago, Larry stated Trump has a mandate and cited over 50% of America voted for him (which is a lie due to children do not vote, etc). Now Larry (after I informed him that he Trump did not have a mandate) says in this article: “Personally, I have always thought that the very concept of a mandate is relatively meaningless.” Well if Larry thought mandates were meaningless, why did he state Trump had a mandate in his previous article? Either this is “flip flopping” or his memory has failed him.
2) The margin is slim in the presidential election as well. Trump has slipped below 50% according to all news reports. He is sitting at about 49.6. Hardly a mandate or even the voting public considering that about 15% of the voting public did not vote.
3) Trump thinks he has a mandate because it is a lie and Trump tells mostly lies. Trump uses his lies to justify his actions. Its that simple Larry!! AND, Larry again states, “Trump’s mandate from the people is based on” which shows Larry’s fickle mind.
4) Recent reporting shows that Latinos in Star County, TX and many other counties in TX are now having Trump remorse and are worried that some of their family will be deported. They did not think he was telling the truth about mass deportations. The joke was on the Latinos.
5) Most of the remainder of this article is Larry’s typical bloviating. Larry says, “There can be no disagreement on one point – Trump won a very substantial and impressive victory. ” NOT TRUE!!! I DISAGREE LARRY! Trump won but his victory by many analysts was not nearly as impressive (and actually described as being so close such that if two battleground states would have gone for Harris, Trump would have lost) as Larry and Trump make it to be.
6) Larry is correct when he says “All the quibbling over an illusionary mandate is meaningless.”, which is why Larry’s whole article is meaningless!!!!
So there ’tis! Now you have the remainder of the truth. Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!!!
Tom … According to my newly launched Bad Scoop (BS) rating system, this reply gets a rating of 100% BS. First of all you completely miss the point of the commentary. Here is the short versions. The election IS the mandate. Other references to “mandates” are meaningless. Trump has a mandate because he won the election. What you deny is that Trump won a very very impressive victory. Your rejection of that FACT runs contrary to the assessment of every politician and pundit — on both sides. Your opinion is bs. Your noting that Trump’s numbers have fallen below 50 percent is not an honest criticism since I noted that in the commentary. (That old reading comprehension problem again?) You claim that thousand’s of Latinos in Texas are having voter remorse because they are worried about deportations. LOL Your claim is just nonsense … bs. Trump made clear his deportation plans well in advance of the election.
You write a lot of “would of” and “could of” … but not much about the hard facts. In short, you twist like a contortionist before you spin your … bs.
Your idea that you are putting out the remainder of the truth is analogous to the output remainder of a meal. Just a lot of … sh*t. And none of it changes the fact that voters put Trump and the GOP in charge. Whether or not you see it as a mandate or an impressive victory, he and they won. You lost … and no amount of agonizing spinning by a better an old man loser changes those facts..
I had laugh at your wishing a happy Thanksgiving to ALL your readers. LMAO You could have accomplished as much by sending an email to Frank. LOL
If he has a mandate it’s a double date with Elon Musk and his VP pick Vance. Why does that name sound familiar? It rhymes with Pence.
Trump does not care about mandates for himself because he says he takes orders from no one. He is the one giving orders and expects his lackeys in Congress todo his bidding always.
It is Trump who is giving mandates.
Report back later on how that is going for him.
AC .. You do not seem to understand how the system works. Trump and Harris do their sales pitches. The winner is given a mandate — the power to enact his agenda as the people preferred, evened by a small margin. Trump is given the powers to act on his own. He is impowered to give orders to all executive branch employees (including the Justice Department and the military), as long as the orders are constitutional and not constrained by established laws. Presidents do not take orders on a daily basis because there is no higher authority in government to give orders. He can recommend to Congress and he can deal with the courts if he is challenged on constitutional grounds. All presidents are authoritarians when it comes to the Executive Branch. But presidents are not authoritarians over all of government because of the balance of powers which has been the situation for 235 years. The most powerful President was FDR. He amassed more and more power over the years. That is why he was called “America’s first dictator,” and why Republicans and Democrats were quick to enact the two term limit after he died. With the margins so close in the Senate and House, Trump cannot be nearly as powerful in their own right as several past presidents. BTW … what ever happened to all that dictator … and no future elections … the the end of democracy .. talk? LOL
“Trump has a mandate because he won the election.”
“The winner is given a mandate — the power to enact his agenda as the people preferred, evened by a small margin.”
Good spin Larry. You know the common definition of the word, as used by most Americans to describe the TYPE of victory a President has. YES, you are correct according to the dictionary. But in terms of either Republicans or Democrats, you know you are wrong and you know what we mean.
I agree, impressive win, almost unbelievable, and since he tried to cheat in 2016 and 2020, I still wonder. But, for now, an impressive win. But mandate, certainly not based on either the electoral or popular votes. What does that mean? For most politicians, it means pay close attention and listen to the other side because they did not give you a mandate, they will vote against you. More important, listen to the slivers of demographics that put you over the top —- if not happy with your decisions, and they lean to the middle, they will dump your party in the midterms.
Trump listens to whack jobs and his inner muse; he rarely listens to “the other side.” But it’s the middle that will kill him and while, pending a new Trump law, cannot run again —— he can lose the House and Senate in 2026 and then his tenuous lead will be gone and any concept of mandate, real or imagined, will vanish. And, unlike Biden, this guy can’t reach across the aisle, can’t seek the win-win, and like Horist —- lives on the win-lose, can’t survive without it.