In the aftermath of the recent presidential election, Donald Trump declared, predictably, that “the greatest political movement of all time” had scored a “victory that our country has never seen before,” with an “unprecedented and powerful mandate” to enact the MAGA agenda.
All of this, of course, is nonsense.
Trump outpolled Kamala Harris by only 50.3% to 48.1% and won the Electoral College by just 312 to 226, a very modest margin compared to those achieved by many of his predecessors.
For example, Franklin Roosevelt won the four consecutive presidential elections from 1932 through 1944, always garnering at least 53.4% of the popular vote and a minimum of 432 electoral votes.
In 1936, FDR outdid himself by massacring Alf Landon with 60.8% of the vote and 523 electors.
In both 1952 and 1956, Dwight D. Eisenhower defeated Adlai Stevenson with at least 55.2% of the vote and 442 electors, carrying all but a few states, mostly in the Deep South. Everybody liked Ike.
In 1964, the nation went “all the way with LBJ,” as Lyndon Johnson annihilated Barry Goldwater with 61.1% of the popular vote, an all-time record, and 486 electors. Outside of the Deep South, Goldwater carried, by the thinnest of margins, only his home state of Arizona.
There are many other examples.
Richard Nixon overwhelmed George McGovern in 1972, beating the South Dakotan in every state but Massachusetts. Similarly, Ronald Reagan in 1984 denied Walter Mondale every state but his native Minnesota.
More recently, Barack Obama in 2008 outpolled even so impressive a rival as John McCain with 52.9% of the vote and 365 electors. It is notable that neither McCain nor any other of the candidates mentioned herein claimed that their opponents had cheated — with the solitary exception of Trump in 2020.
Trump’s victory is “unprecedented” only in that he is the only presidential candidate who was twice impeached and is a convicted felon, 34 times over. As well, he is the only candidate who incited a seditious riot and was found liable for battery and defamation in a sexual abuse case.
Now this same miscreant and friend of Jeffrey Epstein promises to “protect” women “whether they like it or not.”
To say the least, Trump is no George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. The man is an embarrassment, a disgrace and a criminal.
So where does this leave the nation? The narcissist Trump will fail and make a fool of himself, senselessly pursuing “retribution,” but will destroy the country only if we let him.
It’s up to us.
Joseph Tipler
Centralia
