# Has Trump personally acknowledged that the Women's March even happened? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 22, 2017, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814 "2017-01-22T10:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/41 "2017-01-22T18:07:47Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > He. Won. The Election? > Did Clinton not have a mandate in 1992? Winning an even smaller percentage than Trump did? Clinton won both the popular vote and the EC. Trump lost the popular vote. That’s the difference. Politicians who will be running for reelection in the next couple of years - reelections that will be settled by the popular vote, remember - should not lose sight of that point. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/42 "2017-01-22T18:10:30Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > He. Won. The Election? > Did Clinton not have a mandate in 1992? Winning an even smaller percentage than Trump did? Clinton got more votes that any other candidate in that election. Yet Republicans never, ever let up about ‘The Majority didn’t vote for Clinton!’ until the '96 election. Why does Trump get a free pass? Not only did the majority not vote for him, he got fewer votes than his opponent. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/43 "2017-01-22T18:15:21Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > And saying republican did it too is a non starter, the issue is deadlock, not who created it. Mmm-hmm. Sure. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/44 "2017-01-22T18:15:34Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > You’re overlooking the fact that although Clinton in 1992 won only 43% of the popular vote, his closest rival in the election won less than 38% of it. > > Personally, I don’t think that attempting to quantify intangible “mandates” based on voting patterns means much. But if it means anything to you, then you have to acknowledge that **relative** percentages of popular vote are significant, not just **absolute** percentages. My point is that anything except the electoral college is irrelevant in the discussion. Yes Hillary won more votes than the Donald. He won more states and counties. Niether won 50% plus of the vote. All is irrelevant to the discussion of Trumps legitimacy. In 2004 W, beat Kerry by a comfortable margin in the popular vote, and actually from memory won an outright majority. If a few thousand votes in Ohio had gone to Kerry, he not W would have won the electoral college. Do you think that would have made Kerry illegitimate? I don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/45 "2017-01-22T18:19:13Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > My point is that anything except the electoral college is irrelevant in the discussion. Then why did you bother bringing up the issue of Bill Clinton’s popular-vote percentage, which by your own assertion is irrelevant? > [@AK84](#): > > Trump had a higher % of the vote (46%) than Bill Clinton did in 1992 (43%). […] > > Did Clinton not have a mandate in 1992? Winning an even smaller percentage than Trump did? If you’re going to maintain that popular-vote percentages mean nothing and the only thing that counts is EC victory and consequent assumption of office, fine. But in that case, stop dragging in red herrings about popular-vote percentages in earlier elections. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/46 "2017-01-22T18:21:48Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > My point is that anything except the electoral college is irrelevant in the discussion. Yes Hillary won more votes than the Donald. He won more states and counties. Niether won 50% plus of the vote. All is irrelevant to the discussion of Trumps legitimacy. > > In 2004 W, beat Kerry by a comfortable margin in the popular vote, and actually from memory won an outright majority. If a few thousand votes in Ohio had gone to Kerry, he not W would have won the electoral college. > > Do you think that would have made Kerry illegitimate? I don’t think so. Nobody is saying the election was illegitimate. Quit punching that straw. What we are saying is that winning the EC doesn’t mean you are liked, popular, or have a clear mandate from the majority of the population. A crowd-rabbler like Trump needs to be reminded of that. Constantly. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/47 "2017-01-22T18:35:24Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > My point is that anything except the electoral college is irrelevant in the discussion. Yes Hillary won more votes than the Donald. He won more states and counties. Niether won 50% plus of the vote. All is irrelevant to the discussion of Trumps legitimacy. Nonsense. That the Electoral College is the deciding factor in determining the winner of the presidential race does not mean that it’s the only factor. This is especially true in the US because the presidential race is not the only race that matters for setting and implementing an agenda. Those upcoming elections (and there will always be another election) _will_ be settled by the popular vote. The many, many, politicians who will need to implement Donald’s agenda need to be very aware that the Popular Vote is not happy. When the politicians who are responsible for implementing Trump’s agenda go back to their voters, they would be smart not to say, “I know that you didn’t vote for Donald but he won so your voices don’t matter. Now vote for me!” ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/48 "2017-01-22T18:37:36Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > He. Won. The Election? > Did Clinton not have a mandate in 1992? Winning an even smaller percentage than Trump did? Obviously not. Next question? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/49 "2017-01-22T19:02:14Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > What we are saying is that winning the EC doesn’t mean you are liked, popular, or have a clear mandate from the majority of the population. > > A crowd-rabbler like Trump needs to be reminded of that. Constantly. I can pretty much guarantee you Trump knows all that already and it doesn’t matter to him in the slightest. What he cares about is that he won the presidency. And he did it by deliberately focusing on winning the Electoral College vote and not caring about the so-called popular vote. And why should he? He won in the way he set out to win and the levers of power are now in his hands. And whatever questionable additional influence or ability to get things done that might result from his having had a true mandate are more than offset by the fact that Republicans control all branches of government right now, plus most state governorships, and that the Supreme Court will likely be making rulings that favor Republican perspectives for a generation or more. In other words, questions of mandate and marches and crowd sizes are meaningless. He won the Super Bowl and couldn’t care less about arguments over which team had the most fans in the stadium or that people are demonstrating in the parking lot because they don’t like that he won. He goes home with the trophy and the ring and the glory and the power and they go home to sulk. And believe me that suits him just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/50 "2017-01-22T19:07:44Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > …And saying republican did it too is a non starter, the issue is deadlock, not who created it. You think the country can afford 4 more years of it just because it now “liberal” imposed? Sounding a lot like Mitch McConnell there. That’s a bad sign for your personal karma. > **[Sen. Mitch McConnell Defends Hypocrisy On Senate Confirmations](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mitch-mcconnell-senate-confirmations_n_5884c658e4b070d8cad32127)** > > The senator had questioned the ethics of Obama nominees. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/51 "2017-01-22T19:09:11Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I can pretty much guarantee you Trump knows all that already and it doesn’t matter to him in the slightest. > > What he cares about is that he won the presidency. And he did it by deliberately focusing on winning the Electoral College vote and not caring about the so-called popular vote. > > And why should he? He won in the way he set out to win and the levers of power are now in his hands. And whatever questionable additional influence or ability to get things done that might result from his having had a true mandate are more than offset by the fact that Republicans control all branches of government right now, plus most state governorships, and that the Supreme Court will likely be making rulings that favor Republican perspectives for a generation or more. > > In other words, questions of mandate and marches and crowd sizes are meaningless. He won the Super Bowl and couldn’t care less about arguments over which team had the most fans in the stadium or that people are demonstrating in the parking lot because they don’t like that he won. He goes home with the trophy and the ring and the glory and the power and they go home to sulk. And believe me that suits him just fine. Considering the time and effort he and his staff have spent on lying about crowd sizes, I think your certainty about what Trump doesn’t care about is probabyl not warranted. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/52 "2017-01-22T19:24:57Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I can pretty much guarantee you Trump knows all that already and it doesn’t matter to him in the slightest. It so does not bother him that he had to complain about millions of ‘illegal voters’ and insist he won the popular vote ‘by a landlslide’. Sure thing, S.A, sure thing. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/53 "2017-01-22T19:27:46Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > Nonsense. That the Electoral College is the deciding factor in determining the winner of the presidential race does not mean that it’s the only factor. > > This is especially true in the US because the presidential race is not the only race that matters for setting and implementing an agenda. Those upcoming elections (and there will always be another election) _will_ be settled by the popular vote. The many, many, politicians who will need to implement Donald’s agenda need to be very aware that the Popular Vote is not happy. > > When the politicians who are responsible for implementing Trump’s agenda go back to their voters, they would be smart not to say, “I know that you didn’t vote for Donald but he won so your voices don’t matter. Now vote for me!” The ‘popular vote’ margin is less than 3 million out of about 128 million votes cast. And most of those came from areas that always vote Democrat anyway. When you combine that with the fact that less than a third of the country identifies as liberal anyway (with the remainder pretty evenly split between moderate and conservative) it’s hardly a slam dunk that the so-called popular (i.e., Democratic) vote against Trump is going to cause much consternation in the next midterm election cycle, especially when the positive or negative fallout of two years of a Trump administration are taken into account. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/54 "2017-01-22T19:32:46Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > T And most of those came from areas that always vote Democrat anyway. How, exactly, do you know where those votes came from? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/55 "2017-01-22T19:37:27Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > It so does not bother him that he had to complain about millions of ‘illegal voters’ and insist he won the popular vote ‘by a landlslide’. > > Sure thing, S.A, sure thing. He’s merely playing to his supporters and trying to keep the opposition from gaining the upper hand. Same with disputes over crowd size. How anyone could think a guy that could stand up in front of virtually every power broker in the country and lambaste them the way he did in his inauguration speech is thin-skinned or worried about what people think of him is a complete mystery to me. Donald Trump is and always has been about the least concerned over what people think of him on a personal level as anyone in the country. He says and does what he thinks he needs to say or do and he’s never been constrained in any way by whether or not people approve of it or like him for it. Not. at. all! ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/56 "2017-01-22T19:47:49Z")
He is fearless is taking on centers of political power is undeniably true. As is the fact that he notoriously easy to provoke i.e he is thin-skinned. One does not exclude the other. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/57 "2017-01-22T19:50:58Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > He’s merely playing to his supporters and trying to keep the opposition from gaining the upper hand. OK, so you feel that outright lying and inventing shit to oversome shortcomings is perfectly acceptable in this matter? > [@](#): > > Same with disputes over crowd size. Again, another issue he could have ignored or downplayed. Instead, more lies in the face of reality. > [@](#): > > How anyone could think a guy that could stand up in front of virtually every power broker in the country and lambaste them the way he did in his inauguration speech is thin-skinned or worried about what people think of him is a complete mystery to me. Because we’ve seen his late night tantrums. We’ve seen him make attacks on people for days where simply remaining silent would have been a smart move (attack a Gold Star Family, who did that appeal to again?). He had a shitfit when the first protests happened, etc. etc. His inauguration speech was nothing more than his bullying. A bully is often thin-skinned. Your evidence is wanting. > [@](#): > > Donald Trump is and always has been about the least concerned over what people think of him on a personal level as anyone in the country. He says and does what he thinks he needs to say or do and he’s never been constrained in any way by whether or not people approve of it or like him for it. Not. at. all! You went full _alternative facts_, S.A. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/58 "2017-01-22T21:04:13Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > He’s merely playing to his supporters and trying to keep the opposition from gaining the upper hand. Same with disputes over crowd size. How anyone could think a guy that could stand up in front of virtually every power broker in the country and lambaste them the way he did in his inauguration speech is thin-skinned or worried about what people think of him is a complete mystery to me. Donald Trump is and always has been about the least concerned over what people think of him on a personal level as anyone in the country. He says and does what he thinks he needs to say or do and he’s never been constrained in any way by whether or not people approve of it or like him for it. Not. at. all! Which is why he mentioned his penis size at a debate. And why he told Comedy Central that they were not allowed to make certain types of jokes about him. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/59 "2017-01-22T21:07:26Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > He’s merely playing to his supporters and trying to keep the opposition from gaining the upper hand. Same with disputes over crowd size. :dubious: Gee, and in order to achieve that it’s necessary for him to spend a significant chunk of a [speech to CIA officials](https://www.lawfareblog.com/president-trump-speaks-cia-headquarters) dishonestly whining about the media (correctly) describing turnout for his inauguration? > [@Donald Trump](#): > > […] I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth. […] > > We had a massive field of people. You saw that. Packed. > > I get up this morning. I turn on one of the networks and they show an empty field. I say: “wait a minute. I made a speech. I looked out. The field was…. It looked like a million, a million and a half people.” They showed a field where there was practically nobody standing there. […] > > But you know, we have something that’s amazing because, we had, it looked honestly, it looked like a million and a half people. Whatever it was. But it went all the way back to the Washington Monument. > > And I turn on, with my steak … and I get this network shows an empty field. And it said we drew 250,000 people. > > Now that’s not bad. But it’s a lie. We had 250,000 people literally around, you know, the little bowl that we constructed. That was 250,000 people. The rest of the 20 block area all the way back to the Washington Monument was packed. > > So we caught them. And we caught them in a beauty. And I think they’re going to pay a big price. In fact, the media [weren’t lying](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/politics/trump-white-house-briefing-inauguration-crowd-size.html) about estimates of crowd sizes. Moreover, it’s not as though Trump doesn’t have more important issues to address with the CIA: > [@](#): > > Commentary about the size of his inauguration crowd made Mr. Trump increasingly angry on Friday, according to several people familiar with his thinking. > > On Saturday, Mr. Trump told his advisers that he wanted to push back hard on “dishonest media” coverage — mostly referring to a Twitter post from a New York Times reporter showing side-by-side frames of Mr. Trump’s crowd and Mr. Obama’s in 2009. But most of Mr. Trump’s advisers urged him to focus on the responsibilities of his office during his first full day as president. > > However, in his remarks at the C.I.A., he wandered off topic several times, at various points telling the crowd he felt no older than 39 (he is 70); reassuring anyone who questioned his intelligence by saying, “I’m, like, a smart person”; and musing out loud about how many intelligence workers backed his candidacy. […] > > But most of his remarks were devoted to attacking the news media. […] > > Mr. Trump said nothing during the visit about how he had mocked the C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies as “the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” He did not mention his apparent willingness to believe Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, who is widely detested at the C.I.A., over his own intelligence agencies. > > He also did not say whether he would start receiving the daily intelligence briefs that are prepared for the president. The agency sees the president as its main audience, and his dismissal of the need for daily briefings from the intelligence community has raised concerns about morale among people who believe their work will not be respected at the White House. If this is the sort of self-obsessed approach that Trump’s supporters require in order to prevent “the opposition from gaining the upper hand”, it appears that he may pay a heavy price for it in the form of being widely perceived as a shallow, narcissistic, dishonest huckster. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814/60 "2017-01-22T21:08:32Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Which is why he mentioned his penis size at a debate. And why he told Comedy Central that they were not allowed to make certain types of jokes about him. And why he berated his successor for lower ratings…on a TV show! How you could imagine the buffoon doesn’t care what people think is a complete mystery to me. The evidence is there, and you don’t even have to look for it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-trump-personally-acknowledged-that-the-womens-march-even-happened/777814.md?page=4)