This just in: Justin Amash – the Michigan House representative who called for Trump’s impeachment and the only Republican to do so – dropped a bombshell earlier when he announced that he has quit the Republican party!
Amash made the official announcement that he is leaving the Republican party in a Washington Post op-ed published a few hours ago.
On his Twitter page, Amash also declared his independence from the party.
Here’s the official Amash tweet announcing his leave:
And, here's an excerpt from The Washington Post op-ed that Amash wrote detailing why he is leaving:
Modern politics is trapped in a partisan death spiral, but there is an escape.
Most Americans are not rigidly partisan and do not feel well represented by either of the two major parties. In fact, the parties have become more partisan in part because they are catering to fewer people, as Americans are rejecting party affiliation in record numbers.
These same independent-minded Americans, however, tend to be less politically engaged than Red Team and Blue Team activists. Many avoid politics to focus on their own lives, while others don’t want to get into the muck with the radical partisans.
But we owe it to future generations to stand up for our constitutional republic so that Americans may continue to live free for centuries to come. Preserving liberty means telling the Republican Party and the Democratic Party that we’ll no longer let them play their partisan game at our expense.
Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party. No matter your circumstance, I’m asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us. I’m asking you to believe that we can do better than this two-party system — and to work toward it. If we continue to take America for granted, we will lose it.
If you want to, you can read the full thing here.
Needless to say, the news of Amash's leave is going viral as we write this.
On Twitter, some are bidding Amash good riddance:
Others pointed out that Amash's decision to quit coincides with a huge drop in the polls for him after new faces on the political scene like Republican Iraq War Veteran Peter Meijer challenged his House seat.
Coincidence?
On the other side, prominent Democrats are congratulating Amash:
President Trump himself even responded to Amash, calling him out for the convenient timing of his announcement:
In May, Amash had been publicly shamed at a town hall meeting by Trump supporters over his call for Trump to be impeached.
Here's what one of the Trump supporters who boldly confronted Amash had to say about it on Fox News:
ABC News has more details on Amash's decision to quit:
Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, the only Republican in Congress to call for impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, said Thursday he is leaving the GOP because he has become disenchanted with partisan politics and "frightened by what I see from it."
In an opinion article published in the Washington Post , on July 4, Amash said partisan politics is damaging American democracy.
"I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party," Amash said. "I'm asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us."
Amash had been the only Republican in Congress to say Trump engaged in impeachable conduct, drawing the ire of many fellow Republicans and Trump. In a series of tweets on May 18 , Amash said that he had read special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
"Mueller's report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment," Amash said at the time.
He was roundly criticized by fellow Republicans and withdrew from the Freedom Caucus of conservatives in Congress after the group disavowed his views. He had filed in February for re-election in 2020 as a Republican in a race that has since drawn three primary challengers, his first intra-party challenge since 2014.
Amash told WOOD-TV at a Grand Rapids parade on Thursday after announcing that he was leaving the party that he intended to "set an example."
"People need to stand up for what's right, stand up for what they believe in and be independent of these party loyalties that really divide us," he said.
The New York Post also had the following to say:
Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, the only Republican in Congress who has called for the impeachment of President Trump, announced Thursday that he is leaving the GOP.
“Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party,” Amash wrote in a Washington Post op-ed, without mentioning the president by name.
“No matter your circumstance, I’m asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us,” the five-term lawmaker, a staunch libertarian, continued.
“I’m asking you to believe that we can do better than this two-party system — and to work toward it. If we continue to take America for granted, we will lose it.”
Last month, Amash stepped down from the conservative House Freedom Caucus after arguing that Trump had committed impeachable offenses based on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
“The Republican Party, I believed, stood for limited government, economic freedom and individual liberty — principles that had made the American Dream possible for my family,” he wrote in the op-ed.
“In recent years, though, I’ve become disenchanted with party politics and frightened by what I see from it. The two-party system has evolved into an existential threat to American principles and institutions.”
Amash has incurred the wrath of GOP leaders, as well as the president, who blasted him in May.
What do you think?
Are you glad Amash is GONE?
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