Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:38 pm
The reason why Republicans are so touchy about recounts and losing the popular vote is that President-elect Donald Trump has no mandate as 54% of voters cast their votes against the next president.
Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau tweeted a fact that drives Trump and the GOP crazy:
54% of us voted against Donald Trump. https://t.co/4fDbNV1DVG
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— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) December 4, 2016
To put Trump’s lack of a mandate into perspective, Republicans claimed that Obama had no mandate after he won 51% of the vote in 2012. The total percentage of voters who voted against George W. Bush ranged from 51%-52%. Never in modern electoral history has a candidate been sworn into office who was so roundly rejected the electorate.
Donald Trump and the Republican Congressional majority have no mandate, which is why they are expected to move at breakneck speed on their agenda before voters get the chance to express their true will in 2018.
Trump is currently not a popular president-elect, and he will not begin his time in office as a popular president. Unless something dramatic happens, Trump will maintain his Electoral College lead, and become the next president. Popular votes don’t determine the presidency, but they do set the climate for governing.
Democrats should reject Trump at every turn. The president-elect has no mandate, and working with him will only serve to lend the legitimacy to his presidency that voters have already denied.
Donald Trump has no mandate, and Democrats need to uphold the will of the majority of voters by saying no to everything the president-elect tries to do.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
