It sounds like ya'll are really talking about getting rid of the electoral college since people keep bringing up Trump.

A direct democracy impacts who makes the laws... our Constitution, however, says the President has relatively limited power over that (influence as the head of his party and veto power). His/her job is primarily to enforce the laws.

Anyway, a direct democracy would have more of an impact on how laws are created by Congress. It wouldn't necessarily change the structure of Congress but it would change their power.

Think of some of those referendums and propositions that appear regularly on county, city and state ballots like Proposition 1 in Houston that would allow transgendered people to use the bathroom of the their chosen gender. That's direct democracy at work... the people of that city decided what their law would be on this by simple majority.

If our federal government changed to that model, we could either figure out a way for certain referendums to bubble up to the national ballot, or we could let Congress continue to make laws and just have the right to veto those laws (which is currently the President's power).

I don't know if it really fixes any of our problems in the country. Companies can "buy" citizens even more easily than Congress people, who at least have some oversight. More populous states would have even more say on how the country is run (shit, the midwest would probably secede because the population centers are mostly on the coasts).

In general, minority positions would be fucked and we'd probably be even more beholden to corporate influence. You want the to give the EPA the power to impose restrictions on offshore oil drilling anywhere in the country?

Good luck winning when ExxonMobil is running nation wide ads against your referendum saying is going to raise fas 50c/gallon and the rest of the country could care less about a coast line they will likely never see.