Trump is President only because of the archaic and flawed electoral college. He did not win the popular vote in 2016, and has never enjoyed the support of the majority or even a plurality of the populace. He has never had a popular mandate.
It is becoming more and more evident that the U.S. is a flawed democracy, what with lack of equal representation, legalized bribery of government officials (as enshrined by the Citizens United decision), voter suppression efforts, increasing polarization and an unwillingness to compromise by our representatives, and the lack of effective checks and balances on the executive branch of government.
So because Trump is President and Chief Executive, “elected” via a flawed democratic process, does that mean he speaks for all American citizens? He makes no pretense to. Indeed, he demeans and belittles those not part of his “base.”
For the record, my state did not award him any electoral votes in 2016, and my state’s entire congressional delegation (including my representative in Congress), voted to impeach and remove him from office earlier this year.
But even if that were not the case, he still wouldn’t speak for me personally, nor does he speak for the majority of Americans, much less all of us.
It became more democratic, giving people more voice in their governance.
But the US has always been a democracy.
The one criticism I partially agree with about the 17th, is that without it, people would maybe be more aware of the actions of their state legislatures.
If you can’t vote for your senator, maybe you pay more attention to the people you do vote for to do so.
Over the weekend, I spent some time w/ my 91 yr-old FIL - a diehard Republican/Trumpist - also racist, misogynist… We were having a pleasantly benign conversation, when my wife - for whatever reason - decided to ask him if he supported Trump and why.
He said something along the lines of, he’s not thrilled w/ Trump, and wished he were more - I forget his exact word, but more respectful of others. But he thinks Trump accomplished a lot, and is better than Biden. He thinks the tax reduction was a great thing, and he thinks Trump supports “law and order”, which he feels is needed in light of the current unrest. He also said we cannot afford excessive spending as Biden proposed.
At this point, my tongue was bleeding from biting it ;), but I had to express my wonder at how Repubs were able to maintain the fiction that they were fiscally responsible, and to observe how crazy it is to increase sending AND reduce taxes. Of course, he had no response - and I expected none.
He said he had taken down his Trump/Pence signs, because he felt they were too divisive and offended too many people, and he expressed a general desire that the current divisiveness would be lessened. No idea how he thought Trump would accomplish that.
Just offering this as a data point. I often hear of the benefit of engaging with people who think differently than oneself. My experience has not shown that to be terribly edifying or rewarding.
I never have understood the RW push to repeal the 17th Amendment. I mean, even under the old system, senators once elected were politically independent and not subject to recall by their state legislatures, which means they were never what you might call ambassadors of their state governments.
It should be mentioned that before the 17th Amendment passed, the procedure for selecting senators was antiquated and corrupt as hell. I strongly suspect the real reason why there’s a new campaign to repeal it is its backers want to make the US even more of an oligarchy than it already is.