The election was not a landslide victory for Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans but it was a "no-confidence vote" for Democrats and mainstream Republicans. It was also the end of democracy in America as we have known it but not the end of democracy in America as a political ideology.
Trump claims he won an “unprecedented” mandate to reshape America in a landslide election victory. However, Trump’s 312 electoral votes were only 6 more than Biden’s 306 electoral votes in 2020. Barack Obama won with 365 electoral votes in 2008 and Reagan received 525 electoral votes in 1984. Trump’s 312 electoral vote victory was not unprecedented.
Concerning the popular vote, votes are still being counted, but Trump currently has less than 50% of the total and Harris has over 48%. Hillary Clinton’s margin of victory in the popular vote in 2016 was about the same as Trump’s in 2024. Biden’s margin of victory in 2020 was twice as large. He received 51% of the popular vote and Trump got only 47%. Reagan received 58% of the popular vote in 1984 and Johnson and Nixon also won legitimated landslide elections with 60% of the popular vote. Trump’s less than 50% of the popular vote victory is not a mandate.
Admittedly, Trump and the MAGA Republicans had a “decisive” electoral victory in 2024, taking control of the presidency and both houses of Congress. Coupled with the ultraconservative Supreme Court, Trump will have the political power to do anything he chooses to do. In his victory speech, Trump vowed, “promises made, promises kept.” There will be nothing to keep him from doing so. Trump’s picks for his Cabinet thus far confirm that he intends to carry through with his promise to rule as an autocrat rather than govern as a president.
Many Democrats seem to be shocked that the American people would reelect Trump as their President. The first time he was elected he was an unknown quantity. However, his true nature and intentions have since been revealed. He has made it clear that he has no intention of respecting the constitutional limits to the powers of the presidency—and the Court has ruled that he doesn’t have to. The Republican Party is now the party of Trump, so there are no checks and balances. So, Democrats logically wonder, why would 50%, or even 10%, of the American people vote for Donald Trump to be their president?
Everyone seems to have an answer to that question, and my answer may not be any better than any of the others. In my opinion, half of the American voters voted for Trump and MAGA Republicans in the 2024 elections because they have lost confidence and trust in their government. I’m convinced that corporate and monied interests have intentionally disrupted the functioning of government in order to destroy the ability of the government to tax their wealth and restrain their economic exploitation. Regardless of the cause, the U.S. government lost the “consent of the governed” and thus lost its “just power to govern.” Trump seized this opportunity first to pack the Supreme Court with like-minded Justices and then to be reelected President with a Congress that will rubberstamp his decisions.
I don’t think most people who voted for Trump understood, or at least didn’t believe, that they were giving up on 250 years of admittedly halting progress toward democracy in America.
The lesson for Democrats and mainstream Republicans is that if they lack the political courage to stand against corporate and monied interests to defend basic democratic principles, such as the rule of law, separation of powers, liberty, justice, and equality, they will not regain the confidence and trust of the American people regardless of the future form of government.
The lesson for the American people is that the structure of the U.S. government, as reflected in the U.S. Constitution, was not designed to endure a 21st-century attack on its integrity. The founders failed to anticipate the rise to political prominence of someone like Donald Trump. That being said, I don’t believe Trump’s autocracy will endure. I think the American people are too independent-minded and freedom-loving to tolerate a dictator who rules by decree and doesn’t tolerate dissent. Sooner or later, they will rebel.
When the leaders of the Second American Revolution draft their new constitution, they should ground it in the same basic principles as those in the American Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution. The primary purpose of government is to secure the God-given rights of the governed. The primary function of government is to ensure liberty and justice for all. The rights of the people and the responsibilities of government should be clearly stated, not left to the judgment of some future Supreme Court.
The new Constitution should also be structured to reflect the size and diversity of America of that time and in the future, rather than the small, homogenous nation of 250 years ago. The new government may need to accommodate multiple political parties and devolve more functional responsibilities to the various regions and states. The Constitution should also ensure that the document is revisited periodically to maintain “the consent of the governed and the just power to govern.”
The rebellion may take another general election, maybe two, in which the American people want change, and their will is subverted or the results of elections are denied or ignored. There may be a lot of unnecessary suffering in the meantime, but sooner or later, the great experiment of democracy in America will continue.
John Ikerd
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/.../donald-trump-showing.../
https://www.cookpolitical.com/vote.../2024/electoral-college
https://www.cnn.com/.../donald-trump-election.../index.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/.../kamala-harris-votes...
https://www.cbsnews.com/.../trump-election-results-map.../