Trump shouldn’t act as if he has a mandate

What’s all this about a “mandate”? Key Donald Trump advisers Rudy Giuliani and Kellyanne Conway both said Sunday that the president-elect definitely has one from the American people. Really? Trump lost the popular vote — in fact got fewer votes than Mitt

Of course it’s all bluster. Winners always claim mandates, no matter how thin their claim, and opponents shrug it off. But Republicans might need a reality check here. If they mistake what voters decided Tuesday as wholehearted support for every Republican dream, the GOP is likely to overreach.

This is what happened to the Newt Gingrich revolution mid-term during Bill Clinton’s first administration, when Republicans won big and set out to dismantle environmental protection — even to privatize Social Security, which would have been a disaster. (Think what happened to 401k’s a few years later.) Republicans took a hit next time voters got to the polls.

Trump has been sending out mixed signals since becoming president-elect. He appeared to soften his stance on immigration Sunday and said he’s “fine” with legalization of same sex marriage. But he also reiterated his pledge to roll back abortion rights and announced the appointment of Stephen Bannon to a key White House strategy position.

GOP congressional leaders are making clear their plans to act as if Trump has a mandate. On Friday we heard Paul Ryan talk about privatizing Medicare. Good grief. People love Medicare. Why mess with something that works? Figure out how to fund it, but don’t destroy it.

The mandate claim for Trump is particularly ironic, given that Barack Obama won the popular vote twice with far more votes each time than Trump got this week. But when Obama took office, Republican leaders did not offer respect. They announced their primary mission from day one was to make sure he failed.

Obama’s high personal popularity today has to be some comfort to him, even if it didn’t propel Hillary Clinton to victory.

Democrats are not saying they’ll do anything to see that Trump fails. Party leaders such as Elizabeth Warren say there are goals they appear to have in common with Trump, and they’ll work with him on them.

In fact Trump’s plan to bring back tech company profits now parked overseas to avoid taxes is already a bipartisan goal in the current Congress. It may be one of the very few good things on the horizon for Silicon Valley industry.

Mandates are the kinds of votes we get here in Silicon Valley for, say, Measure B, the transportation tax that has more than 70 percent of Tuesday’s vote at last count.

But losing the popular vote for president, no matter how the electoral math produced a win — that’s not a mandate.

— San Jose Mercury News, Digital First Media

Democrats are not saying they’ll do anything to see that Trump fails. Party leaders such as Elizabeth Warren say there are goals they appear to have in common with Trump, and they’ll work with him on them.