Politico reports:
Is it newsworthy that Donald Trump’s share of the 2024 presidential vote has fallen below 50 percent? You wouldn’t think it’s a big deal based on the relatively few headlines triggered by the milestone, which passed quietly last weekend as California and other states continued their glacially slow vote counts.
Trump’s 49.9 percent (for now) is still more than Kamala Harris’ 48.3 percent. When the counting is done, the margin will probably have shrunk even further. No matter: It still earns him 312 electoral votes from a population that also gave his Republican Party control of the House and Senate. He won.
All the same, the numbers might seem a wee bit jarring to anyone who has been listening to Washington’s triumphal Republicans and self-flagellating Democrats — all of whom seem to have internalized a version of the story that involves a romping, stomping Trump triumph.
The New York Times reports:
On the night he won a second term, President-elect Donald J. Trump rejoiced in the moment. “America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” he boasted. In the two weeks since, his campaign has repeatedly heralded his “landslide,” even to market Trump merchandise like the “Official Trump Victory Glass.”
But by traditional numeric measures, Mr. Trump’s victory was neither unprecedented nor a landslide. In fact, he prevailed with one of the smallest margins of victory in the popular vote since the 19th century and generated little of the coattails of a true landslide.
The disconnect goes beyond predictable Trumpian braggadocio. The incoming president and his team are trying to cement the impression of a “resounding margin,” as one aide called it, to make Mr. Trump seem more popular than he is and strengthen his hand in forcing through his agenda in the months to come.
The New Republic reports:
Donald Trump is upset with the media for accurately reporting that his election night victory wasn’t exactly a “landslide.”
Trump transition team spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt on Friday took aim at Politico and The New York Times for reporting on the fact that President-elect Trump didn’t win the popular vote by some resounding majority.
“New Fake News Narrative Alert!” Leavitt posted on X. “Here are the ridiculous headlines from @politico and @nytimes this morning. The fake news is trying to minimize President Trump’s massive and historic victory to try to delegitimize his mandate before he even takes the Oath of Office again.”
There’s much more at all three links.
🚨New Fake News Narrative Alert!
Here are the ridiculous headlines from @politico and @nytimes this morning
The fake news is trying to minimize President Trump’s massive and historic victory to try to delegitimize his mandate before he even takes the Oath of Office again pic.twitter.com/ywHWFb9MxT
— Karoline Leavitt (@karolineleavitt) November 22, 2024
Trump won a clear, convincing victory. But he and his allies are trying to pump it up into a “landslide,” which it wasn’t. With 49.997% of the vote, he fell short of a majority and his 1.6-point margin of victory is the 3rd smallest since the 19th century https://t.co/yyHgiIVS8z
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) November 22, 2024