Title: Donald Trump & GOP Congress: 2016 Election Mandates | National Review
Headings: Does Donald Trump Have a Mandate?
Does Donald Trump Have a Mandate?
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Three Kinds of Presidential Mandates
The People’s House
The Senate of the Republic

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A s of this writing, Donald Trump won 47 percent of the popular vote and 306 electoral votes en route to the White House. Does that mean President-elect Trump has a mandate? It depends on how you define the term, but if anyone has a mandate in American government right now, it’s the Republican Congress. Advertisement
Three Kinds of Presidential Mandates
There are really three kinds of “mandates.” The first and simplest one is an executive mandate: Is Trump the legitimately elected 45th president of the United States? Love him or hate him, he is. He won by the rules of the game, rules set forth in the Constitution 229 years ago and clearly understood by both sides entering the election. This entitles and obligates him to exercise the powers of the Executive Branch within their constitutional scope. The fact that Trump did not win the national popular vote is irrelevant to his executive mandate — and not all that unusual in our system of government, either.