You Call That A Mandate?
The sacking of the New Deal begins tomorrow. I can't change that fact that Republicans now control the federal government but I will dispute their claims to a mandate. Donald Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million votes while winning the Electoral College. Repbulicans won the House of Representatives with a total margin of 3 million votes--51 percent. but ended up with 57 percent of the seats through creative gerrymandering in Republican- controlled states.
These results do not consitute a Republican mandate but rather a deeply divided nation. Nevertheless, Republicans will not be shy about claiming their complete control of Congress and the presidency as justification for enacting all of their libertarian free-market wet dreams.
Republicans may have the institutional power but they have nothing that resembles a legitimate mandate. All the more reason to resist at every turn.
Labels: last refuge of scoundrels, why am I in this handbasket?