Richard Anderson: To unify the nation, Trump must recognize limits of his victory
I’ve heard both liberal and conservative voices claim this week “the American people have spoken” with the election of Donald Trump.
No, the majority of voters were cheated again, as in 2000. In a pure democracy – in which the rule is one-person, one-vote – Trump would have lost. Yes, Trump definitely has 306 electoral votes to Hillary Clinton’s 232, or 57 percent of the electoral college votes – a “landslide!” Hardly.
As of Wednesday, Clinton had 62,414,099 votes to Trump’s 61,255,290 – or 1.1 million more votes than Trump. But thanks to our quirky Electoral College, we’ll get Trump.
It is so important for any victor by small margins to realize they do not have a mandate to trample minorities. Both Clinton and Trump claimed that if elected they would unify the nation. The only way to do that is through respectful negotiation and compromise, not by the victor proclaiming he is the sole voice for all of us. Please, Donald Trump, show us how you can unify us!
Richard Anderson, Modesto
This story was originally published November 16, 2016 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Richard Anderson: To unify the nation, Trump must recognize limits of his victory."