Trump’s Narrow Election Not A Mandate
Renee Parsons
With the change of the US Presidential administration almost exactly one year ago, it may be more than a coincidence that one of the most significant US founding documents, the Declaration of Independence will celebrate its 250th Anniversary on July 4th. Mostly written by Thomas Jefferson with the editorial assistance of John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, the Declaration began with the infamous words that have become an international standard:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Since that 2024 election, the country has experienced an unexpected political turmoil, a series of domestic upheavals as well as an increasing chaotic foreign policy turmoil that have escalated to plague and threaten America’s nearly 250 year old Constitutional Republic.
While Donald Trump’s election had frequently been touted as a historic landslide even as the winner of the Electoral College is assured election, Trump romped over Kamilla with 312 – 226 with 270 needed to be declared winner. The popular vote, however, told a very different story; as if the Electoral College was testing the certainty and the will of the American people.
As has been repeated countless times since election night, President Trump did not win a stunning majority popular vote victory on November 5th. In fact, Trump barely won a majority of the vote with less than fifty per cent of American voters supporting his candidacy. After the dust had cleared, Trump tallied 49.8% (77,308,580) of the popular vote while Ms. Harris was close by with 48.3% (75,017,613) of the popular vote.
The ‘popular vote’ totals hardly provided a mandate to rule with a certainty or a level of plurality that Trump had envisioned; to provide an unquestioned loyalty that would provide a reliable level of voter support, no matter if he pursued offensive policies that had not been debated or agreed to during the heat of a Presidential campaign.
For example: While the majority of Americans support the deportation of illegal immigrants, especially those receiving Federal support and benefits, the majority of Americans would not support an out-of-control ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement) behaving like hoodlums with no legal immunity to physically attack or murder bona fide American citizens. The Trump Administration has doubled-down and refused to censor ICE or show any empathy for Renee Good’s’ death.
Obviously with a ‘landslide’ victory comes a sense of special distinction that a recipient has been bestowed with a benevolent gift of admiration including a high caliber of trust and integrity. That distinction then encourages a true authentic leadership, a revered personality’s judgment and discernment are recognized as being entitled to an accolade of merit or excellence.
That has not been the case with Trump’s popular vote election in 2024. Missing a landslide is not a green light for helter-skelter, disorganized decision-making but requires a thoughtful, methodical approach to the choice of every decision.
After having served one year of this four year term, the question is what exactly does Trump’s understand about the results on election night? With evidence of dementia, does Trump fully grasp that he is not entitled to claim a landslide or behave as if he is an unrestrained winner as he narrowly won the popular vote.
In other words, does the President have even a modicum of understanding that he has NO Mandate from the American people to act in an illegal, post-Constitutional manner or that his words, his actions and his conduct are expected to reflect a level of acceptable behavior for any official whose election was, in fact, by a narrow, thin margin.
Not only did Trump not earn a landslide, most importantly, neither did he win a mandate allowing him to make arbitrary, erratic and capricious decisions that continue to besiege his administration and agitate the American public since Inauguration.
***
On Inauguration day, Trump predicted “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier.” Almost immediately, the Ukraine war persisted as the US continued to supply funds and weapons that maintained the violence the President frequently denounced; yet he remained oddly aloof, unable to plug the source continuing the war. Also early on, it became apparent that the President’s foreign policy objectives would take center stage when a Signal chat leak revealed the planned bombing campaign on Yemen.
While Trump’s Big Beautiful Budget did little to reduce the country’s $36 T debt, US debt recently passing the $38 trillion mark. DOGE fraud and wasteful spending cuts were never adopted by Congress, Trump’s provocative tariff policy created international fissures with threats and sanctions as the Epstein file provided the distraction from a zealous foreign policy agenda that included revelations of Trump’s close link to Israel’s war criminal Netanyahu.
The US contribution of weapons to Israel’s appalling genocide in Gaza including the kidnaping of Venezuelan President Maduro and its oil (world’s largest proven resource in the world) are both indicative of a lack of character that have not provided American voters with sufficient cause to respect or value its President.
Instead with a reputation built on personal insults, narcissistic behavior and other erratic, irrational characteristics have dramatically altered Trump’s standing, the President became known for boorish, uncouth and unconstitutional conduct. There appears to be a complete lack of self awareness with nary a slight acknowledgement of regret or conscience that appears non-existent in his mind or his heart. That is not the American Way.
Here’s where the popular vote becomes an essential measure as current approval polls on the Trump presidency are now steadily declining as the Rasmussen Reports began tracking Trump’s decline in March, 2025 with approval at 55%. Since then, the President’s approval has decreased to a 53% disapproval as compared to a 46% approval.
The distinction of a more narrow victory is essentially more significant than had otherwise been previously acknowledged since the President and his followers have assumed that as the President has endorsed and activated a vast amount of controversial, contentious policies and military action that are not supported by the American public.
As the country moves toward its mid-term elections, it is now indisputable that whatever broad, expansive support the President and GOP had assumed are now seen as contradictory and questionable given the President’s steady public approval decline.
There is almost a deliberateness to Trump’s self- annihilation that reverberates with his own excessive demand for validation, none of which may ever satisfy his never-ending quest for recognition.
Renee Parsons has been an elected public official in Colorado, an environmental lobbyist with Friends of the Earth and a staff member in the US House of Representative in Washington, DC. Before its demise, she was also a member of the ACLU’s Florida State Board of Directors and President of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter.