“I had one of the greatest election victories in history, wouldn’t you say that’s right?” [Trump] then asked host Maria Bartiromo, who nodded her head and responded “Yes, absolutely.”I suppose that depends on how you define "great." Even Trump knows that he lost the popular vote. Let's compare his percentage of the Electoral College vote with those of all the other presidents in his lifetime, shall we?
Six of those presidents had a lower Electoral College percentage than Trump's (though five of them, unlike him, won the popular vote). Eleven of those presidents had a higher Electoral College percentage than Trump's (and they all won the popular vote).
The average Electoral College percentage of all seventeen of those presidents - those with lower as well as those with higher percentages than Trump's - is 71.87%. Trump's percentage, an unimpressive 57.25%, lowers the average.
Apparently Trump has only one possible definition of "one of the greatest election victories in history": He thinks it was great because he won. And his Fox News interviewer "absolutely" agrees with him.
In related news this week, George Conway, referring to the diagnostic criteria for narcissistic personality disorder, nailed it.
Thanks, LaVonne, this was fascinating to compare the electoral votes across the decades and presidents. I hope we can get rid of the Electoral College, and no, it does not spark joy. Rather anguish, rage, and disappointment!
ReplyDeleteVery nice job, LaVonne, gathering and presenting the statistics. While the campaign was still underway for the 2016 election, I checked my primary medical reference, UpToDate, for the diagnostic criteria of narcissistic personality disorder. Unlike other personality disorders or psychiatric disorders, narcissistic disorder diagnosis depends virtually entirely on external observation of behaviors, because the disorder essentially disables completely a person’s introspection. Based solely on observation of publicly reported behavior, both news reports and video available publicly, he met 8 of the criteria and only 5 of them are necessary to make the diagnosis. That was then, it is a lot worse now. President Trump lies so routinely, so pervasively, that fact checking everything he says is a full-time job. Thanks again for doing this part of it!
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