Mandate in Name Only

Donald Trump may claim a mandate. But thanks to math and his own actions, his mandate exists only in his mind.

Ever since his November 5th victory over Kamala Harris, President-Elect Donald Trump has claimed that he won “the largest mandate in 129 years”.

Trump’s claim, of course, is nonsense. His 1.5% victory in the popular vote isn’t even the largest “mandate” of the decade, much less “129 years.” In fact, his popular vote victory in 2024 was smaller than Hillary Clinton’s popular vote win in 2016.

This also says nothing about what happened in the House of Representatives, where the House won fewer seats than they did in the last Congress.

But whatever political capital Trump had regarding his “mandate” evaporated before he even retakes office.