Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan said over the weekend that Donald Trump “has engaged in impeachable conduct,” but don’t expect other Republicans to join Amash’s act of conscience. In fact, Republicans are working to shut down any chance that Amash will get company.
Sen. Mitt Romney, who had previously reveled in his status as one of the most prominent Republicans to make a frowny face over Trump’s misconduct, came out with one of the Mitt-Romniest quotes of all time, saying that “My own view is that Justin Amash has reached a different conclusion than I have. I respect him, I think it's a courageous statement.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy attacked Amash directly, saying “He votes more with Nancy Pelosi than he ever votes with me. It's a question whether he's even in our Republican conference as a whole.” This is a lie—Amash is a libertarian but a very conservative one who votes with the American Conservative Union 88% of the time.
Republican National Committee chair Ronna don’t-call-me-Romney-anymore McDaniel claimed that Amash is “parroting the Democrats' talking points on Russia.” Which is interesting since the word “Russia” appears nowhere in Amash’s 13 tweets.
And Donald Trump attacked Amash via tweet, because of course he did.