Trump's Trials - Do election victories really give presidents a 'mandate'?

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

Presidents throughout history have claimed elections gave them mandates that justify their policy plans, but that's not quite the case. NPR's Domenico Montanaro reports.Then, Tom Homan has vowed to end the CBP One program. Now migrants seeking asylum are making their way to the Mexican border towns as they frantically try to get a coveted spot through the app. NPR's Sergio Martínez-Beltrán reports from Ciudad Juarez. Support NPR and hear every episode sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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Presidents often claim their election victories give them a mandate. How true is that in this hyper-polarized era when President-elect Trump didn't win 50% of the vote? And Pérez Domenico Montanaro explores that question. President-elect Donald Trump has a lot that he wants to get done — mass deportations of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, and extending his tax cuts, for example. To do those things, it helps to have the support of voters. America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate.

That was Trump during his victory speech in November, after winning the 2024 presidential election. He's the first Republican in 20 years to win the popular vote, but it's hard to claim a mandate when you get less than 50%, as Trump did. We're seeing this fit into a typical pattern where presidents kind of know they're going to be embattled. That's Julia Azari, a professor at Marquette University

and author of a book about presidential mandates. They know that their viewpoints will be controversial, and so they use the mandate to try and suggest, alright, it's okay for me to do this, or my critics are ultimately not just critics of me, but they're critics of the popular will. Trump did win the Electoral College fairly handily, and Republicans will control both the House and Senate. But Trump's popular vote victory was the second closest margin in the last 60 years. In reality, presidents almost never come into office with overwhelming mandates.

And that's because elections are rarely about one thing. That hasn't stopped past presidents from claiming mandates, though. Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first inaugural address in 1932 is famous for this line, That the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. But at the end of his speech is this. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. The needs at the time were great. The country was in the midst of the Depression, and FDR was proposing a massive expansion of government to address it, from regulating Wall Street to passing Social Security.

Lots of presidents, past and present, followed suit. The American people gave the elected representatives in Washington an overwhelming mandate to rescue the economy. I think there is no question that there was a mandate in this election. I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. That was Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Four years ago, President Biden did it too. They've given us a mandate for action on COVID, the economy, climate change, systemic racism. That would be quite the mandate. Others thought the mandate had sweeping power, too.

Richard Nixon hoped it could save him from Watergate. If you want the mandate you gave this administration to be carried out, then I ask for your help to ensure that those who would exploit Watergate in order to keep us from doing what we were elected to do will not succeed." Not every president, though, has been comfortable using it. George H.W. Bush in 1988. Well, I don't know whether I want to use the word mandate. Later in the same news conference, though, he adjusted his stance, pointing out… I do feel that the vote was convincing enough, and the margin great enough, and the numbers of states carried big enough, that

it gives a certain confidence to the executive branch of the government." After winning re-election in 2012, former President Barack Obama was asked whether he thought he had a mandate. He said he was cautious about second-term presidential overreach, but… I didn't get re-elected just to bask in re-election. When it comes to Trump, he's charging full steam ahead, using the idea of a mandate to try and build support for his agenda before he's sworn in. Professor Azari says presidents have used the word more in hyperpolarized environments,

and when they want to test the limits of their power. Presidents do this in these defensive postures. They do this when they're trying to expand out their power in Presidents do this in these defensive postures. They do this when they're trying to expand out their power in new ways, and we see plenty of evidence that Trump has designs to do that. Presidents are well aware that they have a limited amount of time until the shine of an election wears off, take it from one who got a lot done, Lyndon Johnson, here in 1967. President's mandate rarely lasted longer than six months, and I hope that we could get most of the Johnson, here in 1967. Rarely lasted longer than six months.

That's going to mean if Trump wants to accomplish his ambitious agenda, he's likely going to have to pick and choose and get it all done as quickly as possible with or without a mandate. Domenico Montanaro, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to Trump's Terms from NPR. I'm Scott Detro. And what you just heard was not the only big news we have to share today about the incoming Trump administration. Here's another story from NPR's latest coverage. I'm Elsa Chang.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has an app. It's called CBP One. And since January of last year, it has facilitated appointments for almost 900,000 migrants to show up at ports of entry, get screened, and petition for asylum. But President-elect Donald Trump has said that he will end CBP One and migrants are worried. NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltran reports. It's about 5.30 a.m.

at the top of the Paso del Norte International Bridge, one of the ports of entry connecting Ciudad Juarez, Mexico with El Paso, Texas. On the pedestrian line, about 200 people await, hoping to enter the U.S. for the first time. Parents cover their little kids' faces as the cold wind blows. They shiver. It's about 40 degrees.

We're here, the three of us. The three of us. And we had to travel from there. 28-year-old David Melgar has been in line since 3 am. He's here with his wife and his 8-year-old son. They're all bundled up with scarves and gloves. For the last two months, this Honduran family has been trying to get an appointment with U.S. Customs and Border Protection using the CBP One app.

Of course, I'm excited because it's a great opportunity for me and my son. Of course, a country where the studies are better. Melgar is emotional. He says he's lucky to have secured one of the 1,450 daily appointments along the southern border today. He says being allowed into the US is a great opportunity for him and his school-aged son. Although having an appointment does not grant migrants legal status in the country, it does allow them to apply for a work permit while they wait for an asylum hearing. Hours after our conversation, the family was headed to New York, where they planned to stay in the meantime. It took about half a day for them to be screened and allowed into the country with

their CBP-1 appointment. But come January, this system might not be available. President-elect Donald Trump vowed in September to get rid of the CBP-1 app, which he falsely claims is used to smuggle migrants into the US. In a statement to NPR, his transition team reiterated the pledges he made during the campaign but didn't answer questions about the future of the CBP-1 app. These threats have Ricardo Bravo and Barbara Mendoza on edge. They say they've been trying to secure an appointment since June while staying at a shelter in Ciudad Juarez.

They come from Venezuela with their 6-year-old son Matias and their one-month-old daughter Zaira. The family fled their country due to extortions. The couple had hoped to cross the border and give birth in the US, but Mendoza went into labor while at a shelter in Ciudad Juarez. Now they're staying put, waiting for confirmation of an appointment. That's exactly what the Biden White House wanted when it rolled out the app in January 2023. The administration said that it was intended to, quote, reduce wait times and crowds at US ports of entry and allow for safe, orderly and humane processing. But the Venezuelan family is impatient. processing. But the Venezuelan family is impatient. I'm thinking of giving up right now, but not until now. I hope, I don't know.

Bravo says they don't know what to do. If Trump ends the program, he says, the family might try to cross the border illegally and surrender themselves to authorities. But that could be dangerous. So the family is praying to get a CBP-1 appointment before January 20th, the day Trump will be inaugurated. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Before we wrap up, a reminder, you can find more coverage of the incoming Trump administration on the NPR Politics Podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters

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