Nope.
That’s because Republican Michigan Representative Justin Amash has kind of made a career out of bashing Trump, which is something Trump was quick to point out in a series of retaliatory Tweets, in which Trump also, predictably, calls Amash a “loser”. To his credit, Amash has always been outspoken, even before Trump came along. And he’s repeatedly warned against Trump’s monarchical tendencies. You may remember he opposed Trump declaring a national emergency to build his wall, Tweeting at the time:
“The same congressional Republicans who joined me in blasting Pres. Obama’s executive overreach now cry out for a king to usurp legislative powers.”
Yes, contending what Trump did is “impeachable” is new for a Republican, and accusing Attorney General Bill Barr of “deliberate” misrepresentation of the Mueller Report is also new. And we respect Amash for his consistency, but in this case, that consistency works against him, because while his newest statement is a little surprising, it’s not that surprising coming from him.
(And if liberals suddenly think they’ve found a new champion, think again. Amash is heavily supported by the Koch brothers, opposes funding for Planned Parenthood, supports deregulating greenhouse gas emissions, and wouldn’t support Congress pitching in to fund the clean up of contaminated water in Flint, Michigan–his own state–saying it’s the state’s business, not the federal government’s.)
Anyway, for Amash’s most recent move to resonate, he’d need to attract at least one, maybe a couple of true “converts” in Congress, who–unlike him– have a record of being pro-Trump until now, or going along with the program enough that saying Trump has “engaged in impeachable conduct” is a real shocker.
And those folks just don’t seem to exist. Heck, Amash doesn’t even have the support of sometimes wanna-be Trump nemesis Mitt Romney on this one. The Utah Republican Senator and former Presidential candidate saying on CNN:
“I just don’t think that there is the full element that you need to prove an obstruction of justice case….I don’t think impeachment is the right way to go.”
Here’s a replay of Amash’s Tweets, which take equal aim at Trump and his Attorney General Bill Barr, and also Members of Congress, whom he accuses of not even reading the Mueller report. He makes a very good point about that: Congressional leadership made definitive statements about the findings of the report moments after the Justice Department issued it, but they didn’t see it any sooner than the general public, so how could they have been reacting to the actual content? At most, we guess, they could’ve taken the lead from the 4-page “notification of principal conclusions” (not a summary!) on the report issued by the Attorney General before the entire redacted report was issued. You know, the one of which Mueller wrote “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of his investigation…
Click on the graphic for the full thread:
But all this will amount to nothing except some momentary agita for the President, unless Amash finds somebody from another wing of the Republican Party who’s willing to back him up. A Lindsey Graham, but in reverse.
But as we said, that ain’t happening. The Republican Party leapt to Trump’s defense. RNC Chair, Ronna McDaniel, who’s Mitt Romney’s niece, referring to Amash and his ilk as “sad” and “desperate”.
Seems to us Trump boasting that he’s ensured a rollback in abortion rights due to his judicial appointments, and floating the idea of pardoning convicted or accused war criminals, and even threatening Iran with total annihilation, are potentially much more scathing to this President than anything a bugbear Republican may say, however courageous and noble it may be. And no matter how loudly liberals crow about it.