Democratic Socialists state that they want to abolish the Senate, and the American President admits that he, too, has sometimes wished to get rid of it.
According to their latest manifesto, titled “Workers Deserve More,” the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) state that they want to “replace the President and the Supreme Court with an executive and a judicial branch that are chosen by and subordinate to Congress.” They also want to “abolish the Senate.”
On August 10, 2026, while responding to a question from Breitbart News in the Oval Office, Donald Trump criticized the DSA’s proposal. However, he admitted that he himself has, at times, felt the desire to get rid of the Senate. “Sometimes I’d like to get rid of the Senate too, but I don’t say that, and I wouldn’t do it.”
Journalists, experts, and politicians have reacted strongly against such an idea, arguing that it would strike at the very foundations of the country’s federal system. To begin with, Article V of the U.S. Constitution stipulates that “no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.” This provision creates an exceptionally strong constitutional barrier to the abolition of the Senate, as the consent of every state is required.
Each state sends two representatives to the Senate, regardless of the size of its population. Thus, California, with its 40 million inhabitants, carries the same weight as Maine, with its 1.4 million. For the Democratic Socialists, this is an injustice that must be brought to an end in the future.
What would happen, hypothetically, if such a thing were to occur?
The Senate is the essence of the American federation—or, in other words, the American Union. The American Union emerged from the consent of the states—initially 13, and today 50. Regardless of their size, all states are equal. Without the states, there is no federation; that is to say, the American Union ceases to exist.
Abolishing the Senate would strike at one of the fundamental pillars of the American federation, as it would overturn the institutional equality of the states—the very foundation upon which the American Union was built.
The dissolution of the USSR in 1991 serves as a historical example of how the constituent parts of a federation are essential to its very existence. Specifically, the Soviet Union was a federation. Russia was the first to leave, followed gradually by the others; suddenly, on December 25, 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev found himself president of nothing. In this light, if President Trump were to attempt to abolish the Senate, he would, in effect, be “abolishing himself.”
Reactions within the Democratic Socialist sphere as well
It should be noted, however, that there was also concern within the broader socialist sphere in the United States. DSA officials and associates worried that the discussion regarding the abolition of the Senate was overshadowing the organization’s other political priorities.
Even the progressive independent senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders—who has long identified as a democratic socialist—disagrees with the proposal. “No,” Sanders replied to NOTUS, as reported by the Washington Sun. He declined to provide further explanation, stating that he had to catch a flight.
Whoever fails to see the forest sees the tree. The problem arises when they insist that the tree they see is the “forest.”
