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. mark: welcome back, senator, we talked about some of the senators. let's talk about the institution of the senate. used to be that the state legislatures chose the senators or the methods by which the senators were chosen and we get the 17th amendment. a progressive era of republicans, the 16th amendment, the federal income tax and the 17th amendment. that all changed. direct election was considered a populist thing to do, and so the states don't have any representation, state legislatures don't have direct representation in the senate or in congress period, what do you make of that? >> ther...

. mark: welcome back, senator, we talked about some of the senators. let's talk about the institution of the senate. used to be that the state legislatures chose the senators or the methods by which the senators were chosen and we get the 17th amendment. a progressive era of republicans, the 16th amendment, the federal income tax and the 17th amendment. that all changed. direct election was considered a populist thing to do, and so the states don't have any representation, state legislatures don't have direct representation in the senate or in congress period, what do you make of that? >> ther...

Them. let me ask you a question. so the 17th amendment to the constitution provides for the direct election of senators. you had hugh hewitt on saying -- mitch mcconnell should expel him. on what possible grounds? the people of alabama will have said they wanted to represent them. he doesn't work for the senate. he doesn't work for mitch mcconnell. would not be working for anybody. he works for the people of alabama. they want him. they get him. the country sufferin insuffers, because the country degraded to point it would elect such a person. >> three weeks' time. we know that because of the ...

Election from the ground up. this faces several challenges. one is legally the 17th amendment to the constitution, there's a vacancy in the alabama senate seat right now. that's the one that strange is temporarily filling. if he were to step aside, pass away, it's not clear that would create a new vacancy. so that's one of the problems with this. another problem with it is who is to say that roy moore wouldn't continue to run and might prevail despite the problems he's facing right now? these are all hurdles. i think the governor of alabama threw some cold water on this thing. her intent is to...

Problem that we face in the cities. >> dana: i think president trump and the republican congress could work with many members on the other side of the aisle to get it done and get it done quickly. i think if people saw movement on that, they would be less likely to want to take over and use football, for example, as a place for social justice issuesa >> couldn't agree more. i think that's why donald trump has the ability to do that. this is like nixon goes to china. >> dana: if he wants to. >> trumped up something brilliant like that, it would be an amazing moment. >> dana: it is absolutely th...