He got just under 50% of the vote. He won by 1.5%, a tiny margin, fourth smallest since 1900. That does not sound like a mandate to me. I also suspect many people who voted for him did not specifically consider what he would actually do.
> I also suspect many people who voted for him did not specifically consider what he would actually do.
So far he has more or less adhered to the plans he and the rest of the crew that coalesced around his campaign over the summer and undoubtedly led to his election said they would do. I would argue that the campaign’s plans were the most accessible of any campaign so far - dozens of hours of discussion on podcasts and the like by him and potential cabinet members, and video addresses for specific policy plans on the agenda 47 website.
For example, Musk made it very clear that the intention with DOGE was to move fast and break things, saying (perhaps ignorantly) that if it turns out something was necessary, you just put it back.
You're saying they're doing the plan they said they would do, but Trump explicitly said he never heard of the plan they're now doing: "I have nothing to do with Project 2025.... That’s out there. I haven’t read it. I don’t want to read it, purposely. I’m not going to read it."
Judging by some of the surprised Pikachu responses from his voters I'm seeing, I think people took him at his word when he said he had nothing to do with it and never read it. Because he lied about his intentions to voters, you can't not say he has a mandate.
