President Donald Trump admitted to some surprising common ground with the Democratic Socialists of America during his event signing an executive order on childhood vaccines.
In his comments, Trump lashed out at "the radicalism and the craziness of the candidates and the stupidity of what they're suggesting," listing off some of the things the DSA platform wants to do as "let's get rid of the Supreme Court, let's get rid of the presidency, let's get rid of the Senate." He has also repeatedly attacked DSA candidates as "communists."
"Sometimes I'd like to get rid of the Senate too," Trump added. "But I don't say it, and I wouldn't do it. But you know, they want to get rid of the Senate."
The DSA platform opposes the existence of the Senate because it is, by constitutional mandate, stacked to give voters in smaller states more representation than voters in large states. Mainstream Democrats, as well as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who calls himself a Democratic Socialist, have all rejected the idea of abolishing the Senate as too extreme.
While it's unclear whether Trump's comment was serious or facetious, he has increasingly clashed with the Republican Senate leadership in recent months, enraged that the chamber doesn't have the votes to pass his SAVE America Act package of voting restrictions.
Trump has become fixated on eliminating the Senate filibuster, a rule that ironically has helped Republicans more than Democrats throughout history. GOP lawmakers have broadly refused to entertain the idea, fearful it would give Democrats much more power the next time they gain a Senate majority.
