JUSTIN AMASH SUPPORTS THE U.S. CONSTUTUTION, NOT THE U.S. PRESIDENT

…The former Republican, Justin Amash

Amash, as a House Freedom Caucus founding member, should apologize for some of the past HFC actions

In the president's tweet about the Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, our president just displayed another reason why he should not be our Commander-in-Chief.

A very serious member of the Republican Party has now left the GOP and declared themselves an Independent.

The Michigan Congressman, Justin Amash announced he was exiting the GOP in an op-ed in the Washington Post that was published on the Fourth of July.  In it, he criticized hyper-partisanship in politics and warned that Congress is reaching a point where it becomes “little more than a formality to legitimize outcomes dictated by the president, the speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader.”  Amash also wrote that modern politics is “trapped in a partisan death spiral.”   He added that there’s a way out of it by following his lead.

Amash wrote: “Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party.  No matter your circumstance, I’m asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us.”

At 39, Amash was the conservative’s conservative.  Amash demonstrated an independent streak since he first landed in Congress in 2011 amid the Tea Party wave.  He had become dissatisfied with the state of affairs on Capitol Hill and within the Republican Party, which became no secret.  He has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and has often found himself at odds with many of his Republican colleagues.

Starting back in May, Amash became the first, and up to now, the only Republican in Congress to say that the president’s conduct was impeachable.  In a series of tweets, he also said that Attorney General William Barr had knowingly misled the public on the conclusions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.  He also criticized other members of Congress for their lack of action.  Amash slammed his colleagues for not even reading the entire 448-page report , which he has done.

Per Amash: “Mueller’s report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.”.

Of course, as expected the president has said that this was not a big loss for the Republican Party.

Trump tweeted: “Great news for the Republican Party as one of the dumbest & most disloyal men in Congress is “quitting” the Party. No Collusion, No Obstruction! Knew he couldn’t get the nomination to run again in the Great State of Michigan. Already being challenged for his seat. A total loser!”

Trump also said that the Amash decision was, “great news for the GOP.”

Before leaving the GOP, Amash had already left the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, of which he was a founding member. He told CNN at the time he didn’t want to be a “distraction.”  But prior to that, the Freedom Caucus had already unanimously voted to condemn Amash for criticizing the president.

This says a lot about Amash, and a lot negatives about the Freedom Caucus, the Republican Party and the president.

It has become obvious that the Republican party as we know it, and now the House Freedom Caucus, they both will take at least a whole generation, if ever, to get back to being the conservative party of yesteryear.  Donald Trump has taken over the party and now they seem to totally support his lying, his love of other dictators and his use of public funds to aggrandize himself and his campaign style politics.

Trump’s latest use of public funds for his 4^th of July “Celebration of Trump,” that with its show of powerful tanks, jet airplanes  fly-overs, and the latest military equipment, was more in tune with leaders such as Vladimir Putin or Kim Jong Un, not the most powerful, but benevolent free country in the world.

Amash’s decision to leave the party signals just how frustrated he has become with the ideological state of affairs in the GOP, and its fawning relationship to the president.  Amash argues that it’s not he, who has changed, but it’s the party that has left its roots.

In a recent interview with Vox’s Jane Coaston, Amash said he felt like he was “among the last of the Tea Party,” and while he felt like previously, “we were making progress in shifting the dialogue toward limited government and economic freedom and individual liberty,” under the president, that’s totally changed.

Amash stated: “Over the past few years, it has gone in the other direction, and a lot of the people who once stood with me are no longer there. Some of them got voted out of Congress, and others just don’t emphasize these issues anymore,” he said. “I don’t think it started because of Donald Trump. I believe Donald Trump is the culmination of many years of shift in this direction.”

Amash’s exit from the GOP also exemplifies how much the Republican Party has capitulated to and become the “Party of Trump”.  That’s especially evident in the case of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC). As was recently stated:, “The Freedom Caucus was once a group designed to fight against a certain Republican Party groupthink, to promote small-government and constitutionally conservative ideals, but today it is increasingly indistinguishable from Trump.”

House Freedom Caucus (HFC) members Reps. Mark Meadows (R-NC) and Jim Jordan (R-OH) are close to Trump, and they are among Trump’s vehement defenders.  This group has since decided to align itself with the president, much like most of the Republican Party at large has done, regardless of the cost.

Per Vox: “When Republicans controlled the House, the Freedom Caucus, having cultivated Trump’s ear, forced congressional Republican leaders to listen to its demands. They used that power to move the debate on issues like health care and immigration further and further right, often tanking negotiations altogether.  But the group has had to accept that Trump wasn’t always aligned with their mission: He’s [Trump] supported deficit-busting budgets and abandoned cuts to programs like Social Security and Medicare.”

What happens with Amash moving forward will be a test for his politics as a conservative who rejects the GOP in the era of Trump.  As the New York Times notes, “Amash is now the only independent member of the House. There are 235 Democrats and 197 Republicans. He hasn’t said whether he will run for Congress again in 2020, and there has been speculation that he could run for president in 2020 as a libertarian.”

As Politico notes, this move will be expensive to Amash.  He will now lose his place on the committees he sits on and will be asked to leave the House Republican Conference; and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) won’t back him in a congressional primary because he’s no longer a Republican.  Not to mention that the Trump camp will throw its weight behind a primary challenger to Amash.

But Amash seems determined to do it his way, whatever that means for his political future.

“My oath is to support and defend the Constitution, and that’s what I do. I didn’t run on an oath to support and defend a particular person,” Amash said. “If some candidate wants to do that, to claim that their oath is to Donald Trump, be my guest. I don’t think that flies as something that will be successful in the campaign in my district. I am who I am, and I wouldn’t want to do this job if I had to be something I’m not.”

This will not be easy for Justin Amash.  I for one do respect his decision to be true to his role as supporting the US Constitution over our charlatan excuse for a US President.  However, Justin was also a major pain for others that wanted to get things done when his House Freedom Caucus (HFC) got in the way of that business, and Amash should also apologize for his involvement in many of the HFC’s negative actions.

Copyright G. Ater 2019