Presidential adviser Elon Musk, while towering over President Trump in the Oval Office this month, said the Trump coalition has a mandate for reform from the people because Trump and the GOP won both chambers of Congress and the executive branch.
However, forcing a mandate down the American people’s throat is not governing, it’s ruling — and Americans intensely dislike being ruled. If Trump and Musk are not careful, they could end up following former President Obama’s footsteps and make a mistake that alienates the country — and in the process form a strong opposition movement that stagnates the rest of his term.
In 2008, Barack Obama was swept into office on a wave of hope and optimism, campaigning as a “great compromiser.” In his first meetings with congressional leadership, Republicans walked away with the impression that the new president was ready to govern.
Obama and congressional Democrats set out to pass a stimulus package for their first order of business, describing it as a “shot in the arm to the flatlining economy.” Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats had already drafted legislation and were ready to move. Like Musk, the Speaker believed they had a mandate: “We wrote the bill…We won the election.”
While Obama did listen intently to Republicans, he failed to incorporate their ideas into the legislation, and when challenged, he echoed Speaker Pelosi, saying, “Elections have consequences … and I won.” Within the first two weeks of his administration, Democrats passed a one-sided stimulus bill full of Pell Grants, expanded broadband internet and investments in green energy. The legislation failed to prioritize transportation infrastructure, something that would have garnered bipartisan support and probably fractured the Republican opposition. Instead, not a single House Republican voted for the bill.
In 2008, Obama won the popular vote by 52.9 percent, dominated the Electoral College (365 to 173), and expanded his party’s House and Senate majorities. In 2024, Trump also won the popular vote, though by a smaller margin (49.8 percent), and took a smaller Electoral College victory (312 to 226). While Obama may have had the votes to do whatever he wanted in Congress, Trump only has a slight minority in the House and Senate.
Since beginning his second term, Trump has ruled by executive fiat and has unleashed Elon Musk and his DOGE “department” like a bull in a China shop. They are moving fast and breaking stuff just, like Obama and the Democrats did in ’08. They are right; the American people want reform. However, one-party reform is not real change, usually: it’s just a changing of the guard. Some Democrats have acknowledged this in different ways.
California Rep. Ro Khanna offered to help with the DOGE effort, and Jared Golden and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez introduced a bill to establish an electoral reform subcommittee and joined the Blue Dog Coalition, which is “dedicated to the financial stability and national security of the country.” However, Trump and Musk, like Obama and Pelosi, are relying on their own team instead of reaching across the aisle.
History doesn’t bode well for this strategy. When Obama alienated Republicans at the beginning of his administration, it signaled the beginning of the end for him as a compromiser and dealmaker. Then-Minority Leader John Boehner said, “If he had reached across the aisle in a meaningful way, he would have found a lot of Republicans ready to work with him.”
The lack of bipartisanship led to a backlash for Obama and united the Republican opposition, evolving into what would eventually become the Tea Party and then MAGA.
A mandate for change is not a blank check for one party to do whatever it wants. Trump and Musk may want to rethink their strategy with DOGE if they want real reform. If they want to fracture the Democratic opposition and cement change, they need to reach across the aisle, working with the other side to govern. Otherwise, their strategy of ruling might backfire just as Obama’s did.
Jeff Mayhugh is the founding editor of Politics and Parenting and vice president at No Cap Fund.
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