President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday was possible because he won the election in November fairly. He did not seize power. To reject him as the leader of the nation is, therefore, a rejection of the system that put him back in power and the people who voted for him.

But that victory was not, as he has been claiming, including on the night of the election, “an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” a “landslide.” “resounding” and “sweeping.”

Trump won the Electoral College convincingly, 312 to 226 for Kamala Harris, but, because of its undemocratic nature, the proper gauge of popularity is the votes cast by the people. Trump won 77.3 million, compared to 76 million for Harris. That is a margin of just over one percent.

In fact, despite winning the popular vote several times, only four Democrats were elected to the White House since 1969 because of the Electoral College: Jimmy Carter in 1972, Bill Clinton in 1993, Barack Obama in 2009 and Joe Biden in 2025. Trump, to his credit, won both the popular and the Electoral College votes, the first time a Republican did so in 20 years.

But Trump and Harris together won just over 153 million of 244.6 million cast but by only 64 percent of available voters, US News & World Report stated. In fact, voters who did not vote in November totaled around 90 million, compared to about 81 million in 2020, 92 million in 2016 (the year when Trump first won) and 92 million in 2012.

None of that is new but it merits repeating because Trump is proceeding on the basis of his victory being a “powerful mandate” and a “landslide.” He evidently sees it as voter approval to do whatever he wishes, as he began doing in the first hours of his second presidency by signing a series of Executive Orders. In fact, most of his stated positions lack majority support, the Associated Press reported. That seems to be no obstacle to his carrying out the policies he promised during the campaign, none of which would help unify a badly fractured nation.

On immigration, only about half the people polled by the Associated PressNORC Center for Public Affairs Research said it should be at least “a moderate priority.” The poll of 1,1147 people conducted between Jan. 9 and 13 found that on to mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, eight of 10 respondents expressed support for removal of those who committed violent crimes, including those who are in the country legally. But, for those who did not, only four in 10 favored mass deportation.

As to ending birthright citizenship of children of undocumented immigrants, only three in 10 supported amending the Constitution to make that effective. Still, one of the Executive Orders which Trump has signed seeks to end that type of citizenship. One in two Republicans favors that policy and only one in 10 Democrats does. That order attracted immediate lawsuits from several states and civil rights organizations.

Regarding climate change, opinion was evenly spilt on pulling out of the Paris Treaty which seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a major cause of climate change. Trump issued an Executive Order for the withdrawal.

On a related subject, only one-third of respondents were “somewhat” or “strongly” in favor of increasing or drilling for oil on federal lands and four in 10 were opposed. A poll by AP VoteCast during the election campaign found that four in 10 respondents supported more drilling but 55 percent preferred expanding the use of alternative energy sources such as wind.

WHYY/NPR reported that one area in which Trump enjoys substantial support is the economy, in hopes that he will ease the financial burdens created especially by high inflation. But Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion told WHYY that while inflation was voters’ top concern during the campaign, especially high prices, Trump had admitted after the election that it would likely be “hard” to “fix” the economy.

“Americans are not convinced of Trump’s agenda pillars, including pardons and tariffs. Mass deportations were only getting mixed reviews,” Miringoff said. WHYY noted that, instead of economic proposals, the President was attracting attention on matters such as acquiring Greenland and the Panama Canal, annexing Canada — and renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America;” which he did by Executive Order.

“For most presidents, it doesn’t get much better than their early days in office when it comes to how Americas view them. But Trump starts with a netnegative favorability rating, 44 percent favorable, 49 percent unfavorable,” reported. “Since Marist started asking about Trump’s favorability in 2016, he has never had a net-positive rating but there does appear to be a small percentage withholding judgment for now, as the 49 percent unfavorable view is tied to the least-negative rating.”

It should be clear by now, however, that, especially since he cannot seek a third term, Trump is very unlikely to be influenced by polls – which he often ridicules, except when they are favorable. He sought the presidency a second time to do what he has promised all along: to exact revenge on those he insists wronged him. In that regard, he has nominated and appointed men and women to his Cabinet and administration generally who have agreed with him for four years that the 2020 election was “stolen,” regardless of their qualifications and suitability for the jobs. They will be his avengers.

Trump has also declared that, like him in his two impeachments and criminal and civil cases and 34 felony convictions, some supporters were singled out for prosecution for political reasons. He has pledged to provide them with presidential, if not legal, vindication. That is what he has done in pardoning 1,500 men and women charged and, in many cases, convicted for their roles in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. They include the leaders of the extremist Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. However, the AP/NORC poll found that only two in 10 poll respondents supported such pardons, with six in 10 opposed to it.

The Fraternal Order of Police, which endorsed Trump in Sept., and the International Association of Chiefs of Police criticized the blanket clemency given to the rioters as a threat to the safety of Americans. And, in a Reuters/Ipsos poll which ended on Tuesday, 58 percent of respondents said Trump should not have issued the pardons.

Meanwhile, Trump’s threat to go after his “enemies” prompted Biden to issue pre-emptive pardons, just before leaving office, of his family members and those who took part in investigations against him, as well as former Army General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, who called him “fascist to the core,” and Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the campaign against COVID-19.

Trump, whose return to the Presidency Peter Baker described in The New York Times as “ a triumph of the man and his movement,” declared in his inauguration address, “My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and, indeed, their freedom.”

He can say what he wishes but he is using the playbook of the late New York lawyer Roy Cohen, portrayed in director Ali Abbasi’s documentary “The Apprentice,” reviewed by David Klion in The Nation in October. It is not about the television reality show which catapulted Trump to national fame.

During his formative years, Trump “was the apprentice of Cohn, who trained him in the dark arts of seeking and wielding power and, in doing so, created a monster,” Klion wrote. He added that Cohn gave Trump “his most valuable asset, his crisis playbook: always go on the attack, never admit defeat, and win no matter.”

He would be proud at how well his student has been putting his lessons into practice.