Republican Senators: Trump's Farmer 'Welfare' Won't Work

[Snellius]

36. Not really "unfair all of a sudden".

Sorry for sounding so pedant but I was trained as an historian (though not US). And as I'm sure you know with political science, the style is a hard habit to break.

From its very foundation the unique American compromise between independent but federated states has been a dynamic and contentious problem. There's no doubt that the representation is unequal. The vote by a senator from California has 1/40 the representational weight in the Senate as a senator from Montana. I suppose if you're from Montana that's a good thing. But it's certainly not equal. It's a concession we make to preserve the sovereignty of independent states but, especially after the Civil War, that idea of states as independent little countries is not what it was in 1776 and increasingly makes less and less sense. Coal-fired plants in Pennsylvania adds to a change in climate everywhere.

Why it matters "all of a sudden" is that the Senate has special powers that only it has. One is "advise and consent" of appointments. Another is to give single senators from smaller states critical veto power on legislation. But why it's important in the present circumstances, is the power to actually convict a president that has been impeached by the House. It is very likely that, even if Trump is impeached, a Republican Senate will refuse to throw him out.