Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
More Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than for Donald Trump. More Americans voted for Democratic Senate candidates than for Republican Senate candidates.
So why aren’t Democrats acting like it? Why aren’t they trying to force Republicans, the media, and the emergent Trump White House to act like it?
This is not an argument that the election was rigged, or that Trump’s win is somehow illegitimate. The president is chosen by the Electoral College. The Senate is built to favor small states. Gerrymandering is legal. America does not decide national elections by simply tallying up votes.
But the will of the voters still matters, or at least it should. Thus far, Democrats have slipped comfortably into the position of minority party. They aren’t demanding that Trump put forward compromise candidates for key posts. They aren’t laying out a proactive agenda that would serve as their basis for negotiations with Trump and the Republicans. And they aren’t, in their public messaging, emphasizing that most voters opposed Trump’s agenda, and that both Democrats and Republicans need to take that seriously.
Democrats have confused the reality of being out of power with the idea of being in the minority. This lets the Trump administration and the Republican Party confuse the reality of being in power with the idea of having a mandate for their agenda.
As grim as the situation is for Democrats — and it is grim — it’s not going to take long for Republicans to recognize their peril. They’ve lost the popular vote in six of the past seven elections. Their president-elect is less popular than any incoming president in the history of polling. It’s the out-of-power party that tends to gain in midterm elections.
If Trump were wise, he would govern with some humility. The question he faces is how to turn his minority into a majority. The answer is to reach out to the majority of Americans who didn’t vote for him and don’t approve of him — to show them, in word and deed, that they were wrong about him.
But that’s not going to happen. In his every move since winning the election, Trump has shown he’ll govern as the most extreme version of himself. So far, he has made Breitbart’s Steve Bannon his chief strategist, RNC Chair Reince Priebus his chief of staff, and retired Gen. Michael Flynn his national security adviser, and announced that Sen. Jeff Sessions will be his attorney general.
So far, there’s been no effort, at all, to reach out to the other side, or to play against type. There’s been nothing akin to Barack Obama’s announcement, which came this very week in 2008, that he intended to retain George W. Bush’s defense secretary, Robert Gates.
All of which leaves an opening for Democrats. If Trump doesn’t intend to represent the majority of the country, then they can. They don’t hold much power in Congress, but they hold more than Republicans did in 2"09, and Republicans were able to cause plenty of problems for Obama’s agenda. "
I agree. Trump cannot use popularity in various districts to influence the Congress. He will have to work on his popularity with the voting public in order for him to have more authority to influence legislation. The fact that Trump is not a mainstream Republican will make it less likely they will do what he chooses. What will end getting passed is those things Trump supports that the majority of Republicans support or a coalition of Repbus & Dems supports.
Trump or any candidate would have to get at least 55-60% of the vote , like Reagan did, to put pressure on the Congress for his 'mandate.'
Doesn't the Republican party control more of the political landscape of the nation right now, than either party at any other point since the 1920's ?
You can spin and twist, and talk about popular vote (that we all know was heavily laden with illegal votes on the dem side anyway)
It will not change the fact that Trump has the greatest mandate, possibly in history. Get used to it, face reality, and enjoy your ride on the Trump train.
OP's thread Title~~ do you agree with this article that says that because Trump didn't win the popular vote, he doesn't have as much power?
As of now~~ He has 270+ Electoral votes..Therefore..whether he has 271 0r 400..makes no difference as to his power. Kind of a ridiculous assertion/question..LOL
But in America..ALL POTUS have certain limitations, which I think many voters dismiss when listening to whatever their candidate of choice pronounces his agenda. Thus Congress as a whole actually the power..Not whomever sits in the Oval Office.
IF one party who happens to be in the minority..we have already witnessed how that worked since 2010..So expect (hopefully) some ability to collaborate and compromise ..as Compromise for past 8 years was a dirty word..Poor House GOP leader even back in 2009 was unable to even utter the word..and when Tea Party waved in 2010..it became impossible for him to even talk to CIC let alone even discuss!! He and fellow Republicans REFUSE to even meet with him as threatened with being primaried !!
The election of 2016 reflects a total lack of confidence in how federal Government has worked..Congress's lowest approval rating is at it's all time low..WHY? because they have done only minimal ..refusing to discuss or compromise..strictly partisan rhetoric..and nothing ever gets done except kicking can down the road!!
Last 4 years..Congress has been in control of GOP..both houses..yet still nothing get done? Now Congress has both houses and the White House..What's going to their excuse now when nothing gets done? Maybe Trump will surprise?? He doesn't sound beholding to anybody unless they kiss his boots or ring..So be prepared for a lot of fireworks...
Alt-Right appointments within Trump's inner circle sort of raises concern.. But lets see what happens with American's new Leader who has a long history of being "Thin Skinned"... I'm hoping for the best..but in truth not too optimistic
I don't think you need the popular vote. A president can do whatever he likes if he or she has enough support in congress. If a president has not enough support, then he or she will have to compromise or nothing will be passed.
Democracies when time of peril such as the depression, world war 2, or a significant economic discontent gives rise to populist candidates and their party. If this party delivers and improves the situation, then the party can potentially get strong enough in subsequent elections to make constitutional changes, which clears the path for dictatorships. The censoring of the media, elimination of political opponents, and rewarding of political allies. I guarantee you if a similar economic hardship like the Great Depression were to occur to USA and politician promise to bring prosperity, then people will be loyal and will give up their freedom to this party or person. No one would dare oppose such a party or person. That is why people in German were so loyal to Hitler. Hitler got them out of the gutter. In military dictatorships work similarly. Many military officers are loyal to their commanding officers and not to their country or constitution they server under. It's their commanding officers who helped promote them to major, colonel, or general. It's important to not have such extreme inequalities such economic, discrimination, or suppression. Such extreme inequalities give rise to extreme candidates. That is the reason why Trump won. Had the Democrats, Republicans, and Obama address the growing pains of the working and blue collar class, then Trump would never have won.
This election doesn't surprise me one bit. As stated in the bible man will dominate man. It is in our nature. If Trump and people he assigns turn out to suppress, I wouldn't be surprise if no one bats an eyelid when the majority have economic prosperity at the cost of a few minorities or regressions of freedoms. Germans didn't bat a eyelid when the Jews were strip of their businesses and properties so long as they benefited. That is how humans are and no amount of progress or improve technology will ever change that.
Last edited by NekoLogic; 11-22-2016 at 05:26 PM..
He has the power of the office and a mandate to carryout his policy to the best of his ability. What ever he decides that is. Then we vote again on it in 4 years.
Sweet Jesus on a bicycle! How many time must we explain the facts to increasingly desperate and silly liberals?
1. Trump is going to appoint 4 Supreme Court Justices.
2. Trump has a majority in the Senate that might be expanded to super-majority next time out due to a favorable election cycle.
3. Trump has a majority in the House.
4. Trump has 33 Governors on his side against the paltry Democratic 18.
5. Trump will have 69 of 99 state legislatures in lock step with his actions.
6. Trump can undo most of Obama's legacy merely by a stroke of the pen, since so much was done by executive order. Obamacare is wildly unpoular and was already collapsing on its own before he got there.
7. The media no longer has the power to prop up Democrats because the internet has largely levelled the playing field.
8. Republicans are doing better with minorities than they have in a long time.
9. Trump has only to do what he said he'd do an send illegals home to dramatically reduce democratic power further.
10. World trends are for austerity and nationalism, and agaisnt Socialism and globalism.
and
11. LONG TERM DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS ACTUALLY FAVOR REPUBLICANS, NOT DEMOCRATS.
Get ready for a long, long time in the wildnerness. Your treacherous, condescending, criminal party has earned every second.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
