LETTER: Despite protestations from columnist Susan Estrich, President-elect Donald Trump does indeed have a mandate

I read the Jan. 11 commentary by Susan Estrich, “Trump: The man without a mandate.” Well, I can state beyond a doubt that the voters did give a mandate in the recent election. Whether Ms. Estrich and other liberals accept it is a subject for another letter.

When a person defeats 17 others within his own party to move on to challenge the opposing party’s career candidate, then defeats that candidate in the general election — and you add to it the loss of the Senate Democrat majority and the expansion of the Republican House majority — any nonpartisan onlooker would call that a mandate.

Ms. Estrich then moves on to the subject of Obamacare. To rebut her position, one needs only to recall Nancy Pelosi’s famous statement, “We have to pass the bill in order to find out what’s in it.” Ms. Estrich references a poll by the Kaiser Foundation, a left- leaning group, that says Americans do not want Obamacare repealed without a replacement. This holds little credibility since Obamacare was passed without anyone knowing its contents.

Add on to that the statements of Jonathan Gruber, an architect of Obamacare, disparaging the intellect of the American people to justify hiding what was contained within the bill and it’s quite obvious that this law was designed and passed by Democrats to require the middle class to pay for another costly entitlement program that would garner additional votes for their liberal agenda among their base.

Ms. Estrich’s statement that the “good old days” were in fact the “bad old days” in relation to health care is utter nonsense. The health industry provided affordable care while providing new and cutting edge innovations within the medical field while the politicians made sure those who could qualify received assistance. The hospital emergency rooms provided care for the indigent — and since they operated as a business, they were allowed to deduct the cost of this community service from their federal taxes. This sounds ideal now after the devastation wrought by Obamacare.

Donald Trump’s election in light of the above was truly a rejection of the mandate imposed on the American people by the Democrat Party and demanded by progressive individuals such as Ms. Estrich. It’s time to accept the results.