Legitimate but a Mandate

Donald Trump is the legitimate President of the United States. However, given his historic popular vote loss, does that mean he has a mandate. Recent History suggests a mixed message.

Presidents Nixon and Clinton won minority victories and the popular vote in their first elections (which were three way races) and pursued policies dear to their base but also had to compromise against opposition from the other party dominating Congress at that time. President Nixon is rightly credited for ushering in the Environmental Protection Agency but what is historically left out of the high school text books is he went along with it in part to stave off a more liberal alternative. The same can be said for President Clinton's Welfare Reform Legislation which was more moderate than conservatives wanted.

President George W. Bush, who lost the popular vote by 500,000 to Vice President Al Gore tried to act as if he had a mandate and within several months of his Presidency, drove the United States Senate (which had been good for Democrats in that election) into the hands of the Democrats because he had alienated moderate Republican Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont who switched to Independent and caucused with the Democrats for the remainder of his term. President Bush pursued pragmatic centrist policies like No Child Left Behind in Education and had to bring down by several hundred billion the amount of his tax cut. It was only after 9/11 and the 2002 Midterm elections when the President enjoyed wide support was he able to muscle in another tax cut and war with Iraq. To be fair, he also was able to get the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit through which has helped many Americans.

The point is despite losing the popular vote, Donald Trump is the legitimate President of the United States. But to think he has a mandate to pursue only the policies dear to him and his conservative base are foolhardy at best based on historical examples. Remember that if you include the other candidates, ten million more people voted for candidates other than the President. That means 54 percent of the country (a strong majority in this day and age) want different policies, ministers and supreme court justices than he does.He needs to be more humble and reach out more to the opposition and not just lie and insult through twitter. He can not continue with largely fabricated claims that he lost the popular vote because of three to five million illegal immigrant votes. That works for his true believers but not the other two thirds of the country.That is probably a recipe for disaster and he should change directions now.