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OP-ED: Trump’s claims of a ‘landslide’ win and a ‘mandate’ are fake news

By George Huck Rattay 3 min read

A liar. A crook. A husband who cheated on his wife while she was pregnant with his child. A convicted felon. Guilty of sexual assault. A real estate developer who refused to pay contractors who built his real estate empire. The owner of casinos that declared bankruptcy – six times. How does a casino lose money? What’s the adage – the house always wins! Just asking.

All are character flaws disqualifying anyone to seek public office, much less winning an election. Or so one would think.

Yet that’s what we did. Well, a minority of us, about 49%, in November voted to put the twice-impeached, criminally-indicted Donald J. Trump back in the White House.

So now Trump and his sycophants bloviate that he and Republicans have a mandate to govern. But his 1.6% popular vote victory was the fifth smallest in the last 100 years.

Trump’s margin of victory over Vice President Kamala Harris was lower than:

· Joe Biden (51.3%) in 2020

· Barack Obama (52.9%) in 2008

· George H. W. Bush (53.2%) in 1988

· Ronald Reagan (58.8%) in 1984

· Ronald Reagan (50.7%) in 1980

· Jimmy Carter (50.1%) in 1976

Even though Harris lost, her percentage of the total popular vote was higher than that of Trump in 2016, George W. Bush in 2000, Bill Clinton in 1992, and Richard Nixon in 1968.

In the seven battleground states that carried Trump to election in 2024, his margin of victory was extremely narrow. While Trump eked out wins in the battleground states, incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin was re-elected in Wisconsin. Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin won the open Senate seat in Michigan. And in Arizona, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego took the Senate seat held by Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema.

Conclusion: a decisive number of Trump voters were interested in casting their vote for him, but not down-ballot Republican candidates.

There’s more evidence that Trump lacks political coattails, that the 2024 election cycle was not a “red wave,” that he lacks a mandate when he takes office Jan. 20 – the last-called House race in December went to Democrat Adam Gray, who defeated incumbent Republican Rep. John Duarte of California.

That leaves the GOP with what Axios terms a “brutally small” majority in the House of Representatives – now a four-seat majority that likely will shrink to a one-seat majority. The reason: Trump has nominated three Republican members to his Cabinet. If confirmed, as expected, special elections will be held to fill the vacant seats.

That means that the first 100 days of the second Trump administration – the time when every president attempts to rush passage of legislation that will shape their time in the White House – will be difficult for Trump, and a tougher job for Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

About 118 miles separates Washington, D.C., from Harrisburg, where Pennsylvania’s Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey lost his very close race to Republican Dave McCormick, while Trump won the Keystone State. Casey lost by 16,000 votes, or under two votes from each of Pennsylvania’s approximately 9,000 voting precincts.

The outcome for Democrats was better in the state General Assembly, where Democrats retained a slim, one-vote margin in the state House of Representatives while Republicans retained the state Senate.

What’s clear is that Republicans in Congress, and in states like Pennsylvania, will need to reach across the aisle to get legislation passed. Any claim of a mandate is just not true.

But of course, the flawed incoming president has a fractured association with the truth.

George Huck Rattay is chairman of the Fayette County Democratic Party.

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