Political scientist Brendan Nyhan:
People’s views about what elections “mean” are utterly incoherent. If you think this is a mandate, then Obama should have received total deference from the GOP and the media both times!
Quick and dirty GPT-made graph of popular vote for the president by year. Tell me if you can see the mandate!
Bush Jr said he had a mandate and immediately massively cut taxes for the rich. (“I got capital and I’m gonna use it!”) Trump had never heard the word and didn’t know what it meant. Now he’s claiming to have gotten the biggest landsliude victory in world history.
But it wouldn’t matter if he’d been installed by the Supremes like Bush was. He’ll do what he wants. And that’s because mandates are irrelevant to right wingers. Power is the coin of their realm and they will ruthlessly use whatever they have to achieve their goals.