(Bloomberg) -- Michigan Representative Justin Amash, the only House Republican open to impeaching President Donald Trump, said he would quit the party, after becoming “disenchanted with party politics and frightened by what I see from it.”
“Today, I am declaring my independence and leaving the Republican Party,” Amash wrote in a column for the Washington Post.
Amash, a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus, has long been an independent libertarian-minded vote in the House. A West Michigan lawmaker who pledged to read every word of every bill he voted on, Amash has often broken from his party, a stance that for years was widely tolerated within his own caucus.
That changed earlier this year, when Amash said a full reading of Robert Mueller’s report had convinced him Trump had engaged in “impeachable conduct.” Trump responded by calling Amash a “total lightweight,” and the rest of the party quickly abandoned him. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Amash just wanted attention, while long-time donors like the DeVos family - led by Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos -- broke ties.
In May, Amash drew a primary challenge from state Representative Jim Lower.
Trump in a tweet just hours after the op-ed posted said Amash is a “total loser” whose departure is “great news” for Republicans. In a nod to the coming election, Trump adding Amash “knew he couldn’t get the nomination to run again” in his GOP-leaning district.
Amash, in the Post, wrote there are consequences for a “mind-set among the political class that loyalty to party is more important than serving the American people or protecting our governing institutions.” Both Republicans and Democrats, he wrote, “ winning for its own sake, and at whatever cost.”
Amash hasn’t said what his future electoral plans are, including whether he’ll seek reelection as an independent.
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