What Justin Amash is really trying to do here

After fundamentally altering the national political landscape by calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment, Republican Congressman Justin Amash is at it again today. This time he’s going after Trump’s most cherished underling, Attorney General William Barr. It’s left people on both sides scratching their heads and wondering what Amash is really trying to do here.

Here’s the confusing thing about Justin Amash. If you listen to him, it’s clear that he’s a smart intellectual guy. He’s also factually, morally, and objectively wrong on every political issue: women’s rights, gun control, climate change, you name it. On the issues, Amash is a far-right extremist and always has been. He’s not at all the kind of reasonable moderate that one might have expected to be the first House Republican to call for Trump’s impeachment.

Here’s the other thing that’s been severely underreported: although Amash only recently called for Trump’s impeachment, he’s spent years loudly and consistently criticizing Trump for being unsuitable for office. He didn’t have a sudden moral awakening this month. Nor is this some sudden strategic political decision. Amash is a far-right guy who’s always been wrong on every political issue, but he’s always been anti-Trump for reasons that have nothing to do with the issues.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Amash has always been more popular in his district than Donald Trump is. Amash was elected in 2016 with 59% of the vote, whereas Trump only got 52% of the vote Amash’s district. Amash went on to get elected with 54% of the vote in 2018, despite a nationwide blue wave, at a time when Trump’s national approval rating was around 40%.

All of this means that Amash may not be taking as big of a risk by calling for Trump’s impeachment as some other House Republicans would. Yes, he’s lost the financial backing of certain GOP billionaires as a result. But if you look at how well his anti-Trump town hall went tonight, it’s clear that he’s going to receive significant individual donations. And yes, Amash will face a GOP primary challenger. But because he’s so popular in his district, and because he’s to the right of his district to begin with, he seems poised to win against any far-right GOP primary challenger.

So what is Justin Amash really trying to do here? His longtime anti-Trump stance gives credibility to the notion that he really is calling for Trump’s impeachment because he believes it’s the right thing to do. Still, there’s a big difference in politics between wanting to do the right thing and actually doing it. Amash isn’t single-handedly going to decide whether Trump sinks or swims. But if Trump does go down, and most Americans end up being pleased that it happened, Amash will (deservedly) get a whole lot of credit for taking this stand.

Perhaps Justin Amash sees himself as being one of the remaining standard-bearers of the Republican Party once Trump and his allies are washed away. Then again, Amash has frequently called for both major political parties to be done away with, so the idea of him holding a GOP leadership position doesn’t track. Maybe he’s just winging it without regard to the consequences to himself, because he couldn’t stand one more day of not calling for Trump’s impeachment. Amash’s decision making process has never made sense to anyone but him to begin with, so maybe that’s just what we’re dealing with here.