Presidential councilor Elon Musk, as he rises over President Trump in the Oval Cabinet this month, said the Trump Coalition has a mandate for reform by people because Trump and GOP won both the congress and the executive branch.
However, forcing a mandate down the throat of the American people does not rule, it is a solution – and Americans intensively do not like to be governed. If Trump and Musk are not careful, they could be following the footsteps of the former President Obama and make a mistake that alienates the country – and in the process they form a strong opposition movement that stagnates the rest of his term.
In 2008, Barack Obama was involved in office of a wave of hope and optimism, campaigning as a “great compromise”. In their first meetings with the leadership of the Congress, the Republicans left with the impression that the new president was ready to rule.
Obama and Congress Democrats set out to hand over a package to stimulate their first business line, describing it as a “shot in the hand to the economy of the plane”. Nancy Pelosi and Democrats from the home had already prepared legislation and were ready to move. Like Musk, the speaker believed that they had a mandate: “We wrote the bill … We won the election.”
While Obama carefully listened to the Republicans carefully, he failed to include their ideas in the legislation and when he was challenged, he echoed President Pelosi, saying, “The elections have consequences … and I won.” Within the first two weeks of their administration, the Democrats accepted a unilateral stimulation bill full of Pell grants expanded broadband and investment in green energy. The legislation failed to prioritize transport infrastructure, something that would win bilateral support and probably break the Republican opposition. Instead, no Republican House voted for the bill.
In 2008, Obama won the popular vote by 52.9 percent, dominated the election college (365 to 173) and expanded the majority of his party and the Senate majority. In 2024, Trump also won the people’s vote, though with a smaller margin (49.8 percent), and took a smaller victory at the election college (312 to 226). While Obama may have had the voices to do whatever he wanted in the congress, Trump has a slight minority in the House and the Senate.
Ever since he began his second term, Trump ruled by the executive fiat and unleashed Elon Musk and his Dogetta Department as a bull in a shop for China. They move quickly and break things exactly as Obama and the Democrats did through ’08. They are right; The American people want reform. However, unilateral reform is not a real change, usually: it is just a change of security. Some Democrats have acknowledged this in different ways.
California Representative Ro Hanna has offered to help Doge’s efforts, and Jared Golden and Marie Gracecamp Perez have introduced a bill to create a undercoming undercommate and joined the Blue Dogs Coalition, which is “dedicated to financial stability and national security of the country.” However, Trump and Musk, like Obama and Pelosi, rely on their own team instead of reaching through the path.
The story is not good for this strategy. When Obama alienated the Republicans at the beginning of his administration, he signals the beginning of the end for him as a compromise and a deal. Then the minority leader John Boner said, “If he had reached the path in a meaningful way, he would have found many Republicans ready to work with him.”
The lack of bilateral government led to the Obama reaction and united the Republican opposition, developing in what would eventually become the tea party and then MAGA.
The mandate for change is not an empty check for one country to do whatever it wants. Trump and Musk may want to rethink their strategy with Dodge if they want a real reform. If they want to destroy the democratic opposition and the change of cement, they must reach through the path by working with the other side to drive. Otherwise, their management strategy can cause a return reaction exactly as Obama did.
Jeff Mehug is a fundamental editor of politics and parenting and vice president in the No Cap Fund.
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