As Alex Shephard has previously noted, Republicans are already beginning to discredit the notion of a Clinton mandate by claiming that the only reason she will have won is that her opponent is Donald Trump. The latest evidence is this tweet by conservative commentator Erick, son of Erick:
On Nov 8, Clinton's claims of a mandate will fly in the face of reality. She only won by not being Trump.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) October 19, 2016
Set aside the fact that the demographic realities of 21st-century America would make it difficult for even a generic Republican to win the presidency. The problem with Erickson’s argument is that it treats Donald Trump as separate from the Republican Party, when the Republican Party nominated one of the most racist, sexist, and xenophobic presidential candidates in modern history. That in and of itself proves that the party doesn’t deserve to wield political power, at least not without a long period of serious reflection and reform. By preventing the ascendance of a party rotting from the inside, Hillary Clinton will certainly have earned a mandate to rule.