>>There's a long-standing idea in the US that a president or governor who has a convincing win has a mandate for his or her policies while one who wins a close election does not.

The problem with ideas, is that they're like opinions: everybody can have their own and they can change like the wind.

Which is why it's worth expressing good ideas in rules with a defined democratic process to change those rules, or governments, or Presidents. Of course the US does have such rules to grant mandate to Senate, Congress and the Cabinet led by President. That august process just happened again, granting mandate to the Republicans across the board. At some point, doesn't unrest and protest against lawful mandate meet the definition of sedition?