Summary

Donald Trump and Republicans are falsely framing his 2024 election win as a historic “landslide” and sweeping mandate, despite the data showing otherwise.

Trump won the popular vote by just 1.6%, the smallest margin for a winning president since 1968, and his 307 electoral votes rank low in U.S. history.

Crucial Senate and House gains were limited, with Republicans relying on gerrymandering for their narrow House majority.

This exaggeration of victory serves to justify potential power expansions, but the facts debunk claims of an unprecedented or overwhelming mandate.

  • ZeroCool@slrpnk.net
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    20 days ago

    It’s time to nip that lie in the bud

    Frankly, I’m sick and tired of nipping MAGA lies in the bud every day. It’s been the better part of a decade of this bullshit already… I fucking hate that my countrymen chose this for us for the next four years. Fuck every Trump voter, but a much bigger fuck you goes out to all the jackasses that stayed home on the 5th. You’re complicit, and I don’t give a shit why you think fascism is “okay” as long as you got to punish the Democratic Party for your grievances.

    • horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world
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      20 days ago

      Exactly, until media reframes this from distraction politics to a call to action none of this matters. Wake me up when we have a functioning government again.

      I’ll be focusing locally on building mutual aid networks and contributing as much as I can to local policy and governance.

      mutualaidhub.org/

    • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
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      20 days ago

      I think the bigger message is that our information environment is totally screwed.

      The eye-opener for me was watching our local news station interview college students coo and rave over how “strong” he was and repeat (apparently not) obvious misinformation.

      It wasn’t about apathy, not really… He just won an influencer war. And now the CEO of Twitter is basically president…

      • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
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        19 days ago

        Wait until the idiots graduate and look for a job. The Orange Bag of Shit holds the record for US unemployment and he has a very good chance of breaking it again.

        • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
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          19 days ago

          To be fair, and president would have been screwed over during covid, even if they had “contained” it (which, looking at China, seems highly unlikely).

    • If you voted for Harris, you’re complicit, and I don’t give a shit why you think blue fascism is “okay” as long as it means your rights are protected at the expense of others

      Edit: to be clear, I mean complicit in the currently occurring Palestinian genocide and overall maintenance of the status quo

      • squozenode@lemmy.world
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        20 days ago

        My choice was Trump or not!Trump.

        I picked not!Trump. Harris could have been a literal turkey sandwich on a plate, I still would have voted for her. She’s not great, I actually wanted to vote for Bernie Sanders in Andrew Yang’s body, but that’s not gonna happen.

          • ZeroCool@slrpnk.net
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            20 days ago

            I picked, and continue to pick, revolution

            Contrary to what you may believe, sitting at home and posting on lemmy is not a revolutionary act.

          • Bizzle@lemmy.world
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            20 days ago

            Well the revolution you picked got us 4 more years of Trump so 😬

            • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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              19 days ago

              Nah, the DNC’s choice to run with Harris, and doing it last minute, coupled with a focus on trying to convince hungry USians that the economy is great, so they should stop whining did it.

          • wanderingmagus@lemm.ee
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            20 days ago

            Cool, lemme know when y’all get started. I’m not seeing any torches and pitchforks yet, or even people with baseball bats and masks. When “revolution” finally gets off of Lemmy/Matrix/Signal and into the streets, I’ll believe it.

              • wanderingmagus@lemm.ee
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                19 days ago

                Read it. But a few million comrades living out actual solidarity and comradeship, joining mutual aid coalitions, feeding unhoused people and refusing consumerism still isn’t affecting the systems of hierarchy and oppression, monopolization of violence, rules of place, terror, and exploitation. The quiet Revolution in the homes of families and certain workplaces, some scattered neighborhoods and the hearts and minds of comrades around the nation still isn’t stopping the cops from dragging us to the camps, the landlords evicting us, and the employers squeezing us. We’ve tried educating, discussion, solidarity, activism, and some of us even tried sabotage and outright violence, for over a hundred years, yet the imperial core seems strong as ever, and the zones of accumulation continue reaping profits and resources from the areas of dispossession. Children are still dying from weapons bought with our blood and sweat and labor. How then do we truly dismantle these systems of oppression, when our own relatives call us brainwashed traitors, when our neighbors support the oppression of others, and the very product of our labor is used to perpetuate violence?

          • morrowind@lemmy.ml
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            20 days ago

            revolution? No candidate is or ever will offer revolution. That’s not a choice you can make at the polls

          • Freefall@lemmy.world
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            19 days ago

            Hahaha, is it a hidden secret revolution? I see no sign of it or it’s effects…

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        20 days ago

        “If you voted for the only other viable option in the election, you’re responsible for Trump” is a very strange claim.

  • Nougat@fedia.io
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    20 days ago

    Doesn’t matter. He won the presidency. He has demonstrated his entire life that he will just do whatever he wants and dare the world to stop him. (Narrator: They haven’t.) Now he also has near-complete criminal immunity once he’s inaugurated. He’s already stacking up appointees who are going to follow his orders.

    “B-b-but Senate confirmation --” Shut the fuck up. Whoever he wants to be in charge of departments is going to be in charge of departments. Don’t appoint anyone else, throw “Acting” in front of the title, done and done. What is anyone going to do about it? Fucking nothing.

      • Nougat@fedia.io
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        20 days ago

        If it doesn’t matter enough for anyone to do anything about it, it doesn’t matter at all.

      • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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        20 days ago

        The “public’s opinion” is of very little concern without a threat of violence to back it up.

          • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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            20 days ago

            I already am… My community, and myself, have already started putting into action plans to help us through this: Bolstering our mutual aid network, doing first aid classes, hitting the range weekly now, planning our block gardens, etc etc.

      • unphazed@lemmy.world
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        19 days ago

        15mil who voted last time didn’t this time. 40+ declared they give two shits about what kind of person Trump is. The public does not give af.

    • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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      19 days ago

      Republicans are trying to gaslight us by calling Trump’s win a landslide. The point isn’t to correct them; it’s to make sure we don’t believe the lies they tell us.

      • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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        19 days ago

        The problem is that in practical terms it is a landslide, because of the way our shitty system is setup. They have control of all 3 branches now.

        • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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          18 days ago

          Yes but we shouldn’t act like it gives them any sort of moral authority, or that future elections are unwinnable.

          • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            Oh Republicans have zero, no scratch that negative 100 moral authority.

            As for winning future elections it really depends on if Democrats make some massive changes.

    • JaggedRobotPubes@lemmy.world
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      19 days ago

      It’s not gonna win anything and we shouldn’t act like it will.

      Still, no reason not to be correct about it. He’s gonna try and make his delusions national news, so, gotta have the reality out there.

  • Asafum@feddit.nl
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    20 days ago

    Maybe the media themselves shouldn’t have been running around talking about the absolutely massive and devastating defeat the Democrats suffered the day after the election… Maybe they should have waited for all the results?

    Nahhh… Clicks clicks clicks! It’s all that matters! Money money money!

    All corporate media:

  • GHiLA@sh.itjust.works
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    19 days ago

    That really doesn’t make me feel that much better about it, but I guess we’re mostly trying to find the corn in the shit on this one, so thanks?

  • unmagical@lemmy.ml
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    20 days ago

    They already have power. They don’t need a justification for expansion they’ll just do it.

    • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
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      20 days ago

      Yes and no. All power, ultimately, depends on compliance. Even autocracies. There would not have been a “divine right of kings” if kings did not have a pressing need to assure people of their right to hold power.

      The “mandate” narrative is aimed at convincing everyone that their objections are in the minority. That even if they stand up and say something, they’ll simply be the odd one out.

      • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        20 days ago

        Power ultimately depends on violence. Violence can create compliance and vice versa, but the violence and compliance with violence is what’s fundamental. These politicians are very capable of overwhelming violence. It’s a crucial part of their function. It’s been the norm as long as states have existed.

        There wouldn’t have been the “divine right of kings” if kings were unable to torture and murder people.

        • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
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          20 days ago

          The state’s ability to use violence is entirely contingent on compliance.

          There are approximately 1.3 million police officers in the US. That number doubles if you were to throw in the entire US military. That is about 1% of the adult population of the US (~260 million).

          The only reason state violence is possible is because people accept it. If every time a police officer tried to arrest someone, an entire neighbourhood rolled out to stop them, no amount of military grade weaponry would prevent a total breakdown of government control. This is what is meant by “policing by consent”. It is the understanding that policing only works because people consent to be policed.

          • krashmo@lemmy.world
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            20 days ago

            One could reasonably interpret the entirety of the modern era to be the upper class’s quest to push us as close to that point as possible without quite getting there. They’ve already pushed it pretty god damn far with very little meaningful resistance. If the public’s line in the sand is on the far side of fascism then that line may as well not exist at all.

  • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    That’s not going to fly when the entire country saw him sweep the swing states. That’s part of the fuckiness of the EC, he only won by a tiny margin but visually state after state went red on the TV.

  • wildcardology@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    Have you seen the crowd in his 2016 inauguration? It was huuuge. Or how he fit 80,000 people in a 20,000 capacity venue.

    People should know by now that he exaggerate everything including the size of his mushroom penis.

  • yarr@feddit.nl
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    20 days ago

    This is one of the reasons I hate talking in abstracts. I hear people talking about landslides, but what does that mean numerically? If there was a vote with a pool of 10 people and a candidate got 6 of those is that a landslide? Is 9/10 a landslide?

    Some people talk “landslide” but without knowing what that means, it makes it hard to have a conversation.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    Wait, did a major outlet just use “lie” in its headline?

    I’m impressed. Even for an op-ed.

    Anyway, this cannot be repeated enough. I’m already sick of people trying to say it’s “historic”, it’s a “landslide”, etc…give me a break.

    • krashmo@lemmy.world
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      20 days ago

      Who cares about the label? The only descriptor that matters is “President-elect Trump” and that one is not in dispute. The rest is either semantics or copium that doesn’t impact anything in a material fashion.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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        20 days ago

        Well, I can only speak for myself in that terms and facts matter. And I’m not one for letting fascists frame the narrative; they’ll keep pushing the Overton window and pushing and pushing…

  • Juice@midwest.social
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    19 days ago

    Fight the real fight: pedantically correcting conservative strawmen by reading an article about it. Subscribe for 7.99 per month for 6 months, promo code - RESISTANCE

  • chakan2@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    That’s pedantic. They won the trifecta of government. The definition of landslide is academic at this point.

      • chakan2@lemmy.world
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        20 days ago

        resistance coalitions

        Good luck with that. The last chance for an organized resistance was the 90’s before we put in mass surveillance. It’s game set and match at this point. The only chance now is maybe the hardcore blue states succeed, but that didn’t end well last time either.

        • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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          20 days ago

          who? name names. who are these resistance leaders aiding in genocide. and don’t say joe biden. if you say joe biden you don’t understand what we’re talking about.

          this is a decentralized movement of care. any weakness we have is that we’re uncoordinated because we lack any leadership

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      20 days ago

      It might only be pedantic/academic if the term was only being used in an educational setting. Instead, it’s bandied about nearly every day since the election, and it does need to stop.

  • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    Half of Lemmy seems to believe that Trump won by a landslide. Remember a comment upvoted like crazy yesterday talking about how hard he won.

    I mean I get it, the fact that he won by any amount is horrifying but nuance exists. I’m glad to see this article attempting to clear it up

    • phx@lemmy.ca
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      19 days ago

      Well, however you want to put, in terms of control Republicans won The House The Senate The Presidency

      So yeah that’s a lot. Whether it’s because Trump “won” it or the Democrats “lost” it, the end result is going to be pretty heavy

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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        19 days ago

        What’s being discussed here though is the margin he won by. Which is smaller than many seem to suggest

  • SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    Trump won the popular vote by just 1.6%, the smallest margin for a winning president since 1968…

    What about Trump and Bush 2 both losing the popular vote yet winning the presidency?

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        19 days ago

        I like how both the right and the left now use “liberals” to insult people not politically aligned with them.

        And I thought the word lost all meaning back when Rush Limbaugh used it to mean anyone to the left of him.

        • ubergeek@lemmy.today
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          19 days ago

          Its not an insult, per se. Its a categorization of the individual’s beliefs, and also an understanding of what, exactly, our system is, in the US.

          And yes, folks on the left don’t like liberals all that much, ie:

          “The White liberal is the worst enemy to America and the worst enemy to the Black man. Let me first explain what I mean by this White liberal. In America there’s no such thing as Democrats and Republicans anymore. That’s antiquated. In America you have liberals and conservatives. This is what the American political structure boils down to among Whites. The only people who are still living in the past and thinks in terms of “I’m a Democrat” or “I’m a Republican” is the American Negro. He’s the one who runs around bragging about party affiliation and he’s the one who sticks to the Democrat or sticks to the Republican, but White people in America are divided into two groups, liberals and Republicans…or rather, liberals and conservatives. And when you find White people vote in the political picture, they’re not divided in terms of Democrats and Republicans, they’re divided consistently as conservatives and as liberal. The Democrats who are conservative vote with Republicans who are conservative. Democrats who are liberals vote with Republicans who are liberals. You find this in Washington, DC. Now the White liberals aren’t White people who are for independence, who are liberal, who are moral, who are ethical in their thinking, they are just a faction of White people who are jockeying for power the same as the White conservatives are a faction of White people who are jockeying for power. Now they are fighting each other for booty, for power, for prestige and the one who is the football in the game is the Negro. Twenty million Black people in this country are a political football, a political pawn an economic football, an economic pawn, a social football, a social pawn…” - Malcom X

          And of course, Reich Wingers don’t like liberals all that much, because they are the less authoritarian (Not un-authoritarian, mind you) than they are.