The 2028 US presidential election needs to be a landslide

In his inaugural address Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar noted that his landslide win over Viktor Orban provided a mandate “not only to change the government, but to change the system as well.”

In April, Magyar’s party won 141 seats in the Hungarian National Assembly to Orban’s 52 seats. After years of authoritarian rule and unprecedented corruption, Magyar’s overwhelming victory gave him a chance to “open a new chapter in Hungarian history.”  

Not since 1984 has a U.S. presidential election resulted in a true landslide victory. Today, Republicans and Democrats have fought each other to a draw.

Political scientist Frances E. Lee’s book describes the “Insecure Majorities” where every election outcome is on the knife’s edge. In the present stand-off, mandates are illusory, partisan agendas stalled and Congress is a place where voices are raised, but little is accomplished. No wonder Americans are disillusioned. 

We have been here before. From the post-Civil War period until William McKinley’s landslide in 1896, Americans experienced a prolonged period of political stalemate. In 1876 and 1888, Democrats won the popular vote but lost the presidency, just as they did in 2000 and 2016. And just like now, the Congress routinely changed hands. One observer compared the parties to two speeding locomotives, with bystanders either jubilant when their train forged ahead or mortified when it fell behind.

As that impasse continued, each party sought to gain an edge. Democrats excluded Black males from the voting booths, knowing an overwhelming majority would support Abraham Lincoln’s Republicans. As........

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