No, Trump Did Not Win in a Landslide—Nor Did He Secure a Mandate

The Nation ^ | November 12, 2024 | Joan Walsh

[E. Pluribus Unum]

As blue Western states and cities finish counting votes, it looks like the popular vote “landslide” projected for Donald Trump last week turned out to be a trickle. When all the votes are counted, he will end up with a margin of roughly two points over Vice President Kamala Harris. Presidents Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and Richard Nixon in 1972 won more than 60 percent of the popular vote; Ronald Reagan in 1984 won 58 percent. Those were landslides.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a bad outcome for Democrats. Trump won all seven swing states, netting himself 312 Electoral College votes (to Biden’s 306 in 2020). Democrats lost control of the Senate; the GOP now has 52 seats, and will likely wind up with 53 when the race between incumbent Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey and Connecticut corporate titan David McCormick is finally called (provisional ballots are still being counted). It will probably hold the House, by a slim margin.

So yes, none of this is good news. But it’s not the top-to-bottom repudiation of Democrats as it first looked like, and the way to respond is not to launch a civil war within the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, that has already begun. Centrists blame the doctrine of “woke,” with particular ire for trans Americans (we see you, New York Rep. Tom Suozzi); leftists say Democrats abandoned the working class (we hear you, once again, Senator Bernie Sanders). Both positions are wrong. Others point fingers at the Harris campaign. Meanwhile, much of the media hypes Trump’s win as a landslide, which would seem to validate his racist, anti-worker agenda.

[Getready]

It’s just a flesh wound, Dems.

[Dr.Deth]

[ridesthemiles]

ARIZONA/ WISCONSIN/ NEVADA /CALIFORNIA

NOT done counting fake votes yet.

[ridesthemiles]

I GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL BEFORE SHE WAS EVEN BORN

[apillar]

As blue Western states and cities finish counting votes, it looks like the popular vote “landslide” projected for Donald Trump last week turned out to be a trickle. Yeah and guess what liberal media, it doesn't matter because Trump is going to steamroll his agenda through the Republican congress like he won a 50 state landslide, whether you like it or not.

[ridesthemiles]

MICHELE’S COLLEGE THESIS TITLED: WHY I HATE AMERICA

[ridesthemiles]

ADD the NYT & the WaPo to the list of items MUSK needs to purchase & shut down.

[Ge0ffrey]

They (DEI and the woke agenda) are going to be called by their rightful name, Marxist collectivism.

[mikey_hates_everything]

Different America than 40+ years ago. It’s swung too far toward Idiocracy in that time. So considering Trump got over 300 EVs and the popular vote despite the dumbed-down, group-thinking population that now exists and a BILLION dollar campaign budget on the other side, it’s a landslide.

[Jane Long]

They can’t stop lying.

[Clutch Martin]

“Does this mean Kamala is President?”

The “hidden” takeaway... read scriptures that instructs believers not to gloat over victories over an enemy.

It was clearly not a landslide, and it wasn’t a mandate... the Marxist’s would make contentious statements such as that.

Don’t let pride cloud your vision.

[Liz]

Harris types cannot ever fail.....they can only be failed.

In what must be now considered a failed admonition of huge proportions,
Whatsherface Obama told us, “WE were not good enough for Harris.”

---

Reality check

Lessons from Harris’ election debacle:
<><>Harris got about 10 million fewer votes than 2020 Biden got
<><>the Democratic Party was resoundingly and historically rejected
<><>so repulsed were they, that many indies stayed home and did not vote
<><>trounced by Trump, Dems are now seen as weak and ineffectual
<><>Americans conclude Dems don’t care about the working-class.

[The Duke]

But he’s got “a phone and a pen”.

[Flaming Conservative]

Uh huh. Somebody call the waaaaaambulance!

[icclearly]

I hate to say this, but the author is 100% correct. It ain't no landslide.

Want to see a landslide? How about Reagan in 1984? 525 electoral votes!

On a related note, Biden won in 2020 with 232 electoral votes. There was no landslide there, but look at the damage he caused in five years!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Bitter Losers say...WHAT? *SMIRK*

Winning! Keep it coming! MAGA!

[jmaroneps37]

Yes he did and yes he did go away you are embarrassing yourself.

[TheWriterTX]

Cry harder, Joan. Your copeium is wearing off.

[Bubba_Leroy]

In my lifetime (and I’m old), only three democrat Presidents (or losing democrat presidential candidates) have won even a majority of the popular vote: Obama, Jimmy Carter and LBJ. (I don’t count Biden, because he didn’t win a majority, it was stolen for him.) Before LBJ, you have to go back to FDR. Before FDR, you have to go all the way back to Andrew Jackson.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton won a plurality of the popular vote (48%). In 1996, Bill Clinton won a plurality (49%). In 1992, Bill won an even smaller plurality (43%). In 1960, Kennedy won a plurality (49.7%). In 1948, Truman won a plurality (49.6%).

[napscoordinator]

52 in the senate. A seat or two in the house (hopefully). It’s going to be a bumpy ride. So many voters voted top of the ticket and left the ballot blank. Have no idea how they thought trump could get anything through congress that way.