The libertarian congressman uses Twitter to challenge and taunt the president
President Donald Trump’s “constant fear-mongering’’ about terrorism is “irresponsible and dangerous.’’ He needs to “stop attacking the legitimacy of the judiciary.’’ He picked an attorney general with “anti-liberty” positions on surveillance and police seizure of property.
Those tough assessments come not from one of the president’s critics in the Democratic Party, but from a conservative Republican House member whose district decisively backed Mr. Trump in the election.
Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan has emerged as one of the leading Republican critics of the president, using a tool Mr. Trump himself often employs—an assertive presence on Twitter—to challenge and even taunt the president. While other House Republicans who were skeptical of Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign have since toned down their criticism, Mr. Amash, who has 100,000 Twitter followers, has remained a vocal critic.
Mr. Amash says his opposition is based on principle, as a libertarian concerned about government overreach and adherence to the Constitution. While many Republican lawmakers hold similar beliefs, Mr. Amash has been an especially outspoken proponent of smaller government, even on issues—such as reducing surveillance—where his views put him out of step with the more mainstream elements of the GOP.
“To me, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a Republican in the White House or a Democrat in the White House. I have a duty to defend liberty, defend the rule of law and protect the rights of all of my constituents,” said Mr. Amash.
The White House didn't respond to questions about Mr. Amash’s Twitter posts or his views of the president.
Though he counts a large share of Trump voters among his constituents, Mr. Amash says he has little fear of speaking out. Elected in 2010 as part of the tea party wave, he won re-election last year in his Grand Rapids-area district by about 20 percentage points. Mr. Trump saw much narrower support in the district, which he won by 10 percentage points, according to results compiled by the liberal website Daily Kos. Official election results by congressional district aren’t available from the state of Michigan.
During the GOP presidential primaries, Mr. Amash supported Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and then Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. After the release of audio that revealed Mr. Trump making lewd comments about women, Mr. Amash called for him to drop out of the race, though he said he wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton either.
Mr. Amash’s continued criticism of Mr. Trump has at times put him at odds with party leaders, such as House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who have taken on the delicate task of recasting some of Mr. Trump’s comments to make them more consistent with mainstream Republican thinking.
“Lately, our leadership team seems to be going along with the president regardless of the situation,” Mr. Amash said. “It’s possible that over time the leadership team will recognize that things are getting out of hand and will try to restrain the president.”
When Mr. Trump suspended immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations out of concerns about terrorism, Mr. Amash responded with a tweetstorm in which he called the executive order illegal. Immigrants with green cards, he said, cannot legally be banned on the basis of their nationality or place of birth. Mr. Trump’s order “overreaches and undermines our constitutional system,” Mr. Amash wrote at the time.
After the travel ban caused chaos at airports, the administration said the order didn't ban green card holders from entering the country. A draft of the revised rule makes this clear.
Mr. Amash acknowledged that a president has wide latitude to ban refugees, though not green-card holders. But he called Mr. Trump’s ban on refugees from certain countries “harsh and unwise,’’ and said well-vetted refugees should be admitted.
When Mr. Trump attacked the federal judges who put his immigration order on hold, Mr. Amash counseled the president to “stop attacking the legitimacy of the judiciary.”
Mr. Trump has said his immigration policies are needed for national security and that judges are overstepping their role by hindering him.
The son of a Palestinian refugee father and a Syrian immigrant mother, Mr. Amash says his ideals come from a deep love of country instilled by his immigrant parents. When his father dropped him off at school every morning, he’d tell him he could do anything in the U.S. It’s with that perspective that he objects to the immigration ban.
“Most immigrants come here to make a better life, and they want to assimilate and be a part of our nation,” said Mr. Amash, who was born in Grand Rapids. “I think we need to remain a country that is welcoming to those immigrants. If my dad’s family didn’t have the generosity of Americans to bring him here, then I wouldn’t be sitting right here in Congress.”
Mr. Amash says he supports congressional investigations into alleged communications between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russian operatives, and on Friday requested an immediate briefing from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey and Michael Dempsey, the acting Director of National Intelligence. He posted the letter to Twitter.
Another libertarian lawmaker, Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.), who considers Mr. Amash a friend, calls the Michigan congressman dependable in his views. “Justin has consistently criticized Obama and Trump, both of them,” for immigration laws he didn’t agree with, Mr. Massie said.
Brian Ellis, a Grand Rapids businessman who challenged Mr. Amash in a contentious primary race in 2014, is critical of the lawmaker for not supporting the president, though he himself supported Ohio Gov. John Kasich until Mr. Trump won the nomination. Mr. Ellis says people have approached him to express the same dissatisfaction.
“I had one person come up to me and say, ‘I didn’t support you when you ran, but the last straw for me was when [Amash] didn’t support our nominee,’” Mr. Ellis sad.
Susan J. Demas, publisher of the Inside Michigan Politics newsletter, said Mr. Amash showed his political skills at a February town hall in Grand Rapids, the most urban area of the lawmaker’s district. Like many House Republicans in recent weeks, he was greeted by a large crowd angry at the GOP’s agenda.
Mr. Amash was booed for his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, as other Republican colleagues have been. But by the end of the session, which he extended by 40 minutes to answer more questions, Mr. Amash had calmed the crowd.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush praised Mr. Amash’s approach on Twitter after the town hall, saying the Michigan Republican was “setting the right example“ for conservatives.
“I think there was frustration, but it didn’t boil over’’ the way it did at town halls held by some other GOP lawmakers, Ms. Demas said. “He’s generally better at listening to people than some of his colleagues.”
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Originally Posted by LibertyEagle
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