In 2010 Justin Amash was 30 years old and running for Congress disgusted with the executive authority, federal powers, and the debt and deficit of the country, but he wasn’t fixated on Barack Obama.
“The Obama backlash, of course, started around the time of the Tea Party. But a lot of us blamed George W. Bush for Obama in the first place.”
Amash believed the Bush-era Republican Party was no different than the Democratic Party, respondent to the needs of respective favored constituents, two cogs in a broken political machine.
Flash forward to 2019 and Amash had split from the GOP party, saying the two parties were a threat to American principles, and “the parties value winning for its own sake, and at whatever cost.”
When he voted to impeach Trump, he was hailed as a Never-Trumper, and is now facing backlash from the new fans who thought his courage was focused on the need to remove Trump from office. Those who saw the fight with Trump and Republicans forgot he’s not a Democrat.
*An excerpt from the interview
Tim Alberta: If you wanted to be president, wouldn’t you have been better off staying in the Republican Party and challenging Donald Trump in a primary, mano a mano?
Justin Amash: Maybe, but I had no plans on staying in the Republican Party. I was not happy with the Republican Party as I’ve made pretty clear. And I don’t think the Republican Party is going to change anytime in the near future. It’s changed its identity over the past few years and I really don’t feel like it’s a home for people who believe in classical liberalism, or what many would call constitutional conservatism. I think it’s a place now for nationalism and protectionism—it’s a place for Trump, basically…..There are Republicans who agree with me on the principles—many, many Republicans. But even among many of those Republicans, when you go online—I’m talking about talking heads and politicians, for example—you find that they have adopted the president’s style. And style and tone are very much a part of who you are. I don’t think you can separate them from your politics and say, ‘Well, my policies are good, but I’m going to be a jerk to everyone and be rude to everyone and harass people and ridicule people,’ which is largely the style under Trump. I think you’re stuck with that for a while. And that’s not me. Everyone says some things in their life that they regret, but it has become a culture in the Republican Party. And it’s very dangerous.
To see the interview in it’s entirety, find it here at Politico.