Justin Amash is no “profile in courage"
Let's be clear- Justin Amash is NOT a "profile in courage"
Last October, Amash said: “When I see members criticize the president and then announce retirement the next day, it undermines what we’re trying to do, which is to hold the president accountable”
Much has been made of Amash's tweets and critiques of Trump. But like many Republicans who criticized Trump, he did so from a standpoint of retreat. Perhaps only Mitt Romney and Ben Sasse are lone Republicans who stays in the fray and criticizes the outgoing President. Many other Republicans criticized Trump and then retired or like Amash, opted not to run for office again. See a list below!
Amash did NOT do Michigan's Third Congressional District any favors. Had he actually been a profile in courage and integrity on the issue of Trump he would have one of two things: a) stayed in the Republican Party to try to reform it from within -or- b) Run as a Libertarian and taken his arguments to the voters.
Despite is chastising of other critics of not staying in the fight, he too opted to NOT run, likely knowing he would split the vote on the right with now-Representative-elect Peter Meijer and likely facilitate a Democratic win by Hillary Scholten.
In my view, despite his critiques of Trump and despite is leaving the Republican Party for the Libertarian Party, this reveals the depth of his commitment to Republican political positions. Depending on who provides the data, Amash’s party-line vote as a Republican was anywhere from 66% to 87%. The remainder were sometimes bi-partisan or ofte simply a no vote in the face of overwhelming bi-partisan votes on given bills or issues.
None of these Republicans ran for re-election last November
Reps. Francis Rooney of Florida
John Shimkus of Illinois
Will Hurd of Texas
Paul Mitchell of Michigan
Martha Roby of Alabama
Susan W. Brooks of Indiana
Justin Amash of Michigan
Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee
Jeff Flake of Arizona (declined to run in 2018 because he knew he would lose primary to pro-Trump candidate)
Mark Sanford of S. Carolina lost to a pro-Trump primary opponent
The Republican Party is a lost cause unless people are willing to fight to retain it as a conservative party and not a party of Trumpism
