Tag Archives: mandate

political news

Trump can govern without a majority

I am going to do something on this blog I once deemed impossible: give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt as he prepares to take office as president of the United States.

Trump will be able to govern without winning an absolute majority of the ballots cast in the 2024 presidential election. His ability to govern doesn’t depend only on his winning percentage, though. It will depend on whether he is able to dispense with the rubbish that flows frequently from his mouth.

Eight times dating back to 1948, presidents have won election without earning a majority of the ballots cast. Trump has done so twice; so did Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996; Richard Nixon squeaked into office in 1968; John Kennedy did so in 1960; Harry Truman, who everyone in the country thought would lose the 1948 contest, managed to win election.

The most controversial election, of course, occurred in 2000 when George W. Bush waited for a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the recounting of ballots in Florida. The court ruled 5-4 to stop the recount … with Bush holding a 500-vote lead in Florida. He won the state and then the presidency.

Trump and his MAGA team, however, are overstating the “mandate” they say he won. He doesn’t have a mandate. He will need to tread carefully as he assembles his executive team and as he prepares to enact policies he has pledged to do.

The question we all must ask is this: Is Trump capable of adjusting his “I am your retribution” posture to being the leader of a team upon which he will need to enact a legislative agenda? I am a strong critic of this individual, so I am inclined to believe he cannot pivot from being a top-tier asshole to becoming a statesman.

However, there always is a glimmer of hope that he can figure it out.

I intend to hope for the best.

national news

Trump loses majority vote? Pffftt!

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The media are making some noise about Donald Trump losing a majority of the popular vote victory he earned with his Nov. 5 presidential election victory.

His popular vote margin has slipped from about 3% on Election Day to around 1.6% as of today. He has earned about 49.8% of the total vote. It is far from the “mandate” he keeps suggesting he won.

But here’s the deal. He was elected legitimately by earning 312 Electoral College votes; he needed 270 of them to secure victory. The Constitution says candidates need to win a majority of Electoral College votes.

I get it. Begrudgingly … but I get it.

What’s more, earlier presidents also have failed to win popular vote majorities. The most recent example was George W. Bush, who in 2000 finished second to Al Gore, but won just barely enough Electoral College votes, thanks to the infamous 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that stopped the recount of ballots in Florida.

Bill Clinton won election and re-election with fewer than 50% of the popular vote. So did John F. Kennedy in 1960. Same for Harry Truman in 1948.

You get the picture, I am sure.

The media need not spend so much effort wondering about the “mandate” that doesn’t exist for Trump. A mandate occurs when presidents score landslide victories, a la Richard Nixon in 1972 and Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984. Trump’s victory, while significant, doesn’t fall into the category of sweeping mandate for wholesale change.

When they count all the votes and Kamala Harris ends up with more actual votes than Trump, well … then we can talk some more.

State news

This is ‘pro-business’?

How in the name of sound policy does a “conservative” Republican governor who touts his state’s “business-friendly” climate issue an executive order that demands private businesses refrain from issuing mandates that could save the lives of employees and customers?

That is what Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has done in his ongoing fight to defy President Biden’s effort to get businesses and government agencies to do their part to rid the nation and the world of the COVID-19 virus.

So help me, I don’t get it. Then again, there are a lot of things about GOP governing strategy that go beyond my ability to understand. This is just one of them.

Abbott issued an executive order that prohibits private business owners from taking steps that could prevent the spread of a killer virus. Where I come from, I call that “government intrusion.” Oh sure, Abbott and his minions say that Biden and his supporters are intruding into private business affairs through their vaccine and mask mandates. I am going to side with the president on this one. Big surprise … huh?

Gov. Abbott’s order actually is inviting businesses to join him in defying a national effort aimed at protecting us against the virus. Let’s see, the virus has killed more than 700,000 Americans already. Right? So the president wants to incentivize Americans into getting vaccinated and to take measures to protect themselves — and others — against a deadly infection.

Gov. Greg Abbott has just tossed the state’s pro-business playbook into the crapper. Good luck trying to retrieve it.

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International news, political news

French fight back against fear

Is there a lesson to be learned from the French presidential election?

Oui!

It is that terror need not sway an informed electorate.

Moderate centrist Emmanuel Macron today became the youngest person ever elected president of France, defeating far-right extremist Marine Le Pen. It was Le Pen who sought to parlay certain elements of fright into an electoral victory. The source of that fear and loathing was the spasm of terrorist violence that has befallen France since 9/11.

France answers the call

Macron sought a different course for France. He wants to keep his country involved with the rest of Europe and the world, unlike Le Pen, who sought to retreat into a “France-first” dogma that mirrors much of what helped propel Donald J. Trump to victory in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Trump called for a ban on Muslims seeking to enter the United States; he wants to build that wall along our southern border; he is seeking to restrict travel of refugees fleeing several majority-Muslim countries. Why? Because he wants Americans to live in fear of further terrorist attacks.

The French know all about the horror of radical Islamic terrorism. Yet they rejected Le Pen’s platform of retreat.

And if you think about it, France’s decision to go with Macron mirrors earlier presidential elections in The Netherlands and Austria, where voters turned back isolationist presidential candidacies in favor of continued engagement.

I wrote in an earlier blog about how the paltry voter turnout in Amarillo shouldn’t be interpreted as a “mandate” for sweeping change at City Hall.

Get a load of this: Seventy-four percent of France’s registered voters turned out to give Macron a 30-percentage-point victory over Le Pen.

I would call that a mandate.

national news, political news

GOP claims ‘mandate’ will drive its congressional agenda

There goes the “m-word” again.

Congressional Republicans say they have a mandate to reel in government spending, to launch a true-blue conservative agenda and, presumably, to enact sweeping social legislation.

How does that comport with the president-elect’s agenda, as if one can figure it out?

Beats me, man.

Donald J. Trump wants to build a wall, keep Muslims from entering the country and plans to appoint pro-life judges to the federal bench. Oh, he’ll bring back jobs, cut taxes — and he’ll repair all the nation’s roads and bridges at a cost of about a trillion dollars.

Can the president-elect forge some common ground with the conservatives who control the congressional agenda?

Suffice to say he lacks any hands-on experience — at any level — with working with politicians of any party, let alone his own.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/claiming-mandate-gop-congress-lays-plans-to-propel-sweeping-conservative-agenda/ar-BBxNwZB?li=BBnb7Kz

Donald Trump is creating a government on the fly. It’s on-the-job training for the new head of state/head of government/commander in chief/leader of the free world.

Will he listen to the pros who know how this government of ours works?

One can hope. Frankly, though, my serious doubts persist.