In the hours after the 2024 presidential election votes started coming in from across the nation, and once it appeared that Trump won, the man euphorically claimed a “massive mandate.” And in the days that followed, he crowed in his victory speech that “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate.” At still another time, he dished it up as “the beauty is that we won by so much!” Also, out of the mouths of some others came similar ejaculations, like “an overwhelming mandate” (from S. Cheung, a Trump spokesman).
Now, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE--Trump supporters as well as Trump critics—knows that whatever Trump claims is very likely so much Trump “wind.” So, when the stink clears in this situation, what can clearly be seen as the reality?
Statistically/factually, 2024 was one of the closest presidential elections of the post-World War II era! The margin of victory--1.5%--was the 5 the smallest in the 32 presidential races held since 1900. But most important is the fact that, when all 156,302,318 votes cast are tallied up, Trump won only 49.8%. In other words, the votes for Harris and other candidates was 50.2%--and, thus, a majority of votes cast for president went to OTHER than Trump! “The beauty is we won by so much”—such beauty is really something hard to behold! And a plurality is NOT a mandate! (As it turns out, if all 3 rd party-type votes were to go to Harris, she would be the winner.)
In the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats picked up 2 more seats than they now have—and there’s an opportunity for perhaps another—making the coming House division even more tighter than currently.
While Republicans retook the Senate, achieving a 53-47 majority, that was largely due to the small-state advantage that usually favors the GOP. And even though Harris lost every battleground race, Democratic Senate candidates there won all but one of those races. Nationally, 1.4 million more voters cast ballots for Democratic candidates than for Republicans. So, even here in the U.S. Congress, any claim for a mandate is bogus.
So, where is that “massive” and “unprecedented and powerful” mandate? In reality, this Republican outcome, was not even close to being massive. But, nevertheless, certainly was historic and unprecedented in one huge way--in that it has been the only time a convicted felon and a candidate charged with multiple other crimes got a party’s presidential nomination and was elected. That is indeed out of the ordinary--“unprecedented”—and certainly an indictment of many Americans’ sense of morality and decency.
Thus, “America has given us” no such thing as claimed. And America should be prepared for the
onslaught of more Trump “wind.” Don’t be fooled, don’t accept the Trump falsities—especially, the mandate that isn’t.
(Statistical information came from the Council on Foreign Relations website article of 12/18/24.)