Representative Amash, the lone Republican to endorse impeachment of President Trump, has taken the next step along the street of honor – his (R-MI) is now (I-MI), which is to say he’s now an Independent member of Congress. He’s disgusted with both parties, as he discusses in WaPo:
With little genuine debate on policy happening in Congress, party leaders distract and divide the public by exploiting wedge issues and waging pointless messaging wars. These strategies fuel mistrust and anger, leading millions of people to take to social media to express contempt for their political opponents, with the media magnifying the most extreme voices. This all combines to reinforce the us-vs.-them, party-first mind-set of government officials.
He’s not joining the Democrats, though:
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. I’m asking you to believe that we can do better than this two-party system — and to work toward it. If we continue to take America for granted, we will lose it.
His remark about partisan loyalties I’ll take to be congruent with my extended remarks, tiresome as they are to long-time readers, concerning the toxicity of team politics. Out of curiosity, I looked up his current TrumpScore from FiveThirtyEight, and I see in the previous Congress it was 54.2%, while in the current and incomplete term it’s 93.3%, for a total of 63.5%, a seemingly appropriate score for a disconcerted Republican.
His leave-taking of the Republican Party certainly infuriated President Trump:
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2019
Its childishness betrays Trump’s fear of abandonment, his knowledge, conscious or not, that his radical approach to government, his utter lack of leadership, may result in his being labeled the worst President ever – not the best.
And that abandonment is an implicit challenge to all of the GOP members of Congress, because Amash didn’t cite issues peculiar to his situation, but rather the behavior of the entire Party. His citation of the patron Saint of the Republic, President Washington, as to the behavior of autocrats within political parties:
Washington said of partisanship, in one of America’s most prescient addresses: “The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. …
“It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.”
This leaves the GOP member in a tough strait, as it describes Trump and the Party, and condemns the arrangement.
But, in the end, the objection will be ineffective. Most of the GOPers who are relatively new to the game are knuckledraggers are simply thrilled to have influence and power, and more than happy to pay the price of obeisance to their Party leader for their position. The balance have a bevy of reasons not to put their positions at risk, having to do with financial, ego, and ideology. To use Amash’s observation, they hate the other side too much to actually pay attention to the health of the nation. To amalgamate a couple of gerrymander authors, they believe their party is better for the state or nation than the other, and therefore they’ll steal the legitimacy of the vote from the voters; and so that sentiment adheres to the ideological zealot. In sum, I doubt we’ll see another defection, the honey of D.C. is simply too strong a lure for most of the GOP members, and the sentiment of President Washington too abstract.
So what’s ahead for Amash and Trump? As the election approaches, Trump’s under-performance in the previous elections (yes, including his disaster of a strategy in the mid-terms) is haunting him, not to mention his incompetency as a leader. Amash? Haley Byrd of CNN speculates:
Amash’s break with his party adds fuel to growing speculation that he will seek the Libertarian Party nomination and launch a long-shot bid for president in 2020. The op-ed comes as Trump is embarking on his 2020 reelection campaign and it solidifies Amash’s role as a leading anti-Trump conservative, representing a group that in 2016 coalesced under a loose “Never Trump” banner.
Over the past several months, Amash has repeatedly refused to rule out a potential presidential bid. Such a campaign would reshape the presidential election: Amash has a national following among Libertarians, and he could draw support from younger, conservative voters who are uncomfortable with Trump.
He told CNN in March that he never stops thinking about such possibilities “because there is a big problem with the current two-party system we have, and someone has to shake it up.”
The Libertarian Party decamping en masse from the Republicans is the last thing President Trump can tolerate, and so he’s attempting to smear Amash. Don’t be surprised if Amash’s Palestinian heritage comes under fire. Maybe there’ll be whispers of him being a Muslim, as if it matters.
But will Amash give it a try? I suppose it depends on whether or not he can get the funding. Perhaps some wealthy Democratic donors will divert some funds to him. I wouldn’t be surprised. I don’t expect to see other defectors, but I do expect to see Amash running for President.
And more childish trash talking from Trump. It is, after all, part and parcel with his entire mindset of autocracy, profiting from his position, and corruption. He cannot NOT say it. His base will love it. All the other voters who think for themselves?
Not so much.
