Justin Amash was the only Republican who has dared to stand up to Donald Trump. And, so, he had to leave the “Trump Party.” In fact, Trump is mounting an effort to defeat Amash’s re-election bid but the Wall Street Journal says Amash may go “mano-a-mano” with Trump, by running for Trump’s job.
Detroit’s WXYZ notes that it’s not just a partisan matter. Amash thinks it’s time to pass the baton to a new generation, as JFK said.
“If you look at the top three candidates (in the Democratic field), they’re all over 70 years old, the president is over 70 years old,” Amash said. “I think there’s a large segment of the population that’s not represented in the top candidates on either side of the aisle, and that’s something I think about.”
And one issue would be to return Constitutional power to Congress.
“I think Congress has so neglected checks and balances, and over the years, the Executive Branch has become so powerful,” he said. “We need to restore that power in Congress. We need to restore separation of powers.”
As Amash put it, “Is there any better time to have a president who might be not from either party?”
The major parties are adamant that a third party can never win against them, yet Ross Perot was leading both major candidates in the polls with 39%, according to RCP before he dropped out in 1992.
This year, a third party beat both major parties in Ireland, who had not had a serious third-party challenge before.
And, as noted in our previous article, with far-right Trump likely to run against far-left Bernie Sanders, the center is wide open for a third-party challenger who offers something new.
But should Amash be taken seriously? Many people think so. He’s been raising a lot of cash, according to Reason. There’s a petition to draft Amash to run. And there are “Amash4President” groups already organized in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississipi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Phew. Impressive.
And there’s an “Amash4President” T-shirt available from Amazon.
But The Hill notes that major Never-Trumpers think a run by Amash would be a waste of time.
An official at one of the largest anti-Trump grassroots organizations in the country is dismissing a potential presidential bid by newly-independent Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), saying it would be a waste of time and effort.
“All he’s doing would be helping Trump,” Scott Dworkin, co-founder of advocacy group Democratic Coalition, told Hill.TV during an appearance on “Rising.”
“It’s a wasted run, a wasted effort,” he added.
Amash is a true independent, charting his own course. The House wanted Amash to lead the Impeachment case in the Senate, but Amash started pushing for impeachment after reading the Mueller Report, months earlier. Amash also said that the assassination of the Iranian official was also a breach of both American and International law.
Likewise, Amash attacked Trump for selling out to Saudi Arabia. While many feel that Amash is ending his career by standing up to Trump, when he went home to his conservative Grand Rapids district, he received standing ovations.
Of course, it would be difficult for Amash to start a third-party campaign from scratch, because he doesn’t have the money that Ross Perot had in 1992, or that Mike Bloomberg has this year. An alternative would be to run on the Libertarian ticket, which is already established across the country, and Libertarians have been courting him.
Nicholas Sarwark, the chairman of the Libertarian Party, told Salon on Sunday that he agrees with GOP Rep. Justin Amash that President Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses… and also argued that Amash could be the Libertarian presidential candidate in 2020. . .
“Many Libertarian Party members have been publicly encouraging Representative Amash to seek the 2020 nomination. Of all the members of Congress, his positions seem to most closely match those of the Libertarian Party, so he would likely have a base of support within the party if he joins the contest that will be decided in Austin next May,” Sarwark wrote. . .
“The Libertarian Party opposes the President on immigration, free trade, the national debt, his support for the racist war on drugs, and his support for Saudi Arabia and their bombing of Yemen with our munitions,” Sarwark explained. “We have applauded his statements about getting out of Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but haven’t seen any meaningful follow through yet.”
Amash has also parted ways with the president on immigration, trade policy, spending, foreign policy and the war on drugs.
Of course, the 2020 election will be, basically, Donald Trump against everybody, so the National Review says that if Amash runs third-party, he will split the “Anybody But Trump” vote, assuring Trump’s re-election, noting that the last Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, who had nowhere near the name recognition and respect held by Amash, won more votes in 2016 than the difference between Trump and Hillary in eleven States—which might have given Hillary a landslide in the Electoral College.
