Summary
Donald Trump narrowly won the 2024 presidential election, securing the smallest popular vote margin for a victor in modern U.S. history, with just 1.6% over Kamala Harris.
Despite his win, Democrats performed unexpectedly well in down-ballot races, flipping Senate seats in swing states Trump carried and maintaining the House balance.
Republicans lack a clear mandate as Trump’s plans for deportations, ending birthright citizenship, political retribution, and tariffs clash with voters’ hopes for economic relief.
There’s likely to be backlash as voters realize the gap between what they wanted and what Trump plans to deliver.
I wish the press would stop talking about “mandate” like it’s something that matters. Trump won and will be president. He’d be exactly the same level of president if he’d won by 1 vote or 200 million. Mandate is meaningless legally, and doesn’t matter nearly as much psychologically as the media apparently wants it to.