Libertarian-leaning independent Justin Amash, who has been very critical of President Donald Trump since leaving the Republican Party, took to Twitter Sunday to continue his attack on the two-party system that he believes is ruining America.
“The two parties have failed to uphold our Constitution and protect our rights,” he tweeted. “You don’t have to settle for what they’re selling.”
Amash’s comment linked to a recent Washington Post opinion article by columnist George F. Will that highlights Amash’s independence and suggests that it can be a guide for voters that don’t want to settle for Democrats or Republicans. Will also agrees with Amash’s notion that Congress “rarely” acts as a legislative or deliberative body.
“Two years ago, when Republicans controlled the House, a Republican congressman defended a committee chairman accused of excessive subservience to the president by saying: ‘You’ve got to keep in mind who he works for. He works for the president. He answers to the president.’” he wrote. “Pathetic.”
Will claims that Congressional hearings are held with the goal of publicity and thus are tightly scripted. He highlighted that Amash believes this is the reason they are an “elaborate form of performance art.”
Per The Inquisitr , Amash attacked the “shameless” and “unprincipled” Republican party earlier this month and claimed that the GOP used to hate Trump.
“They then realized they could use a man like this—unprincipled, transactional, shameless—to push their agenda. McConnell and McCarthy are giddy about Trump. Conservatives in Congress are the ones privately horrified.”
Voters don’t have to settle for a binary choice. Look at Justin Amash, @GeorgeWill writes. https://t.co/arBld7oBY1
— Washington Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) August 17, 2019
In author Tim Alberta’s book called American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump , a year-old interview with Amash revealed that he has become disillusioned with the GOP’s direction for a long time. He suggested that the party is lying in order to protect the president, whom he believes has the superpower of shamelessly lying.
Although Amash is highly critical of the current GOP, he has a 92 percent score on Conservative Review , which tracks the votes of each member of Congress to determine whether each is supporting conservative principles. The 39-year-old congressman is known for his sole “no” votes on more than 70 measures, as well as his vote against the Violence Against Women Act. He defended the vote by claiming it had no purpose but to create new federal crimes that mirrored existing crimes that were already written into law in every state.
While some speculate that Amash may run as a Libertarian candidate in the 2020 election, he has maintained that the possibility is not currently on his radar.