Justin Amash Blasts GOP’s Priorities: ‘It’s About Kneeling Before A Man’
Independent Justin Amash has been openly criticizing the current direction of the GOP since he left the party and doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. In Tuesday’s Twitter post, he cited his conservative voting record via sites like Conservative Review and suggested that the current Republican Party no longer cares about conservative principles.
In his tweet, he posted four pictures — the first three of his voting records, and the fourth of Donald Trump.
“Republicans used to care about pics 1-3; now, they care mainly about pic 4,” he wrote. “It’s no longer about conservatism; it’s about kneeling before a man.”
Amash was the first member of the GOP to call for Trump’s impeachment after the release of Robert Mueller’s report into Russian interference in the 2016 election, citing obstruction of justice on Trump’s behalf — the president unsuccessfully tried to get then-White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller — as his reason. He criticized people that assumed obstruction of justice requires an underlying crime, highlighting that in some cases, charging is impossible because the obstruction itself prevents the gathering of the evidence necessary for prosecution.
“If an underlying crime were required, then prosecutors could charge obstruction of justice only if it were unsuccessful in completely obstructing the investigation. This would make no sense,” Amash tweeted at the time.
Um, folks.
Trump directed Don McGahn to remove Mueller. pic.twitter.com/b3nvJH3Hk6
— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) April 18, 2019
The libertarian-leaning Independent received backlash from his party and ended up deciding to leave, citing the “partisan death spiral” of current politics. He warned of the current pattern of following the party at all costs and said that both Democratic and Republican leaders fall into two camps: obedience or opposition to Trump.
The 39-year-old Michigan representative has since urged his former colleagues to “walk away” from the GOP — a call that seems more likely for some in the current climate thanks to impeachment proceedings against Trump stemming from his controversial call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Amash also didn’t mince his words when addressing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s interview with Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes. McCarthy was questioned about Trump’s call and at one point suggested that Pelley altered the transcript.
“Kevin McCarthy again displays his unique brand of incompetence and dishonesty,” Amash tweeted.
McCarthy appeared to accuse Pelley of adding the word “though” to Trump’s sentence. However, Trump indeed used the word during the call and it’s one of the pieces of evidence Democrats are citing to prove Trump’s offer of military aid was conditional on Zelensky digging up dirt on his potential opponent in the 2020 election, Joe Biden.
