By Robert Wenzel
Representative Justin Amash, who considers himself a libertarian, has become the first member of the Republican party serving in Congress to publicly state that the president’s conduct had reached the “threshold of impeachment.”
It is very difficult to understand what Amash is thinking here. This plays right into the hands of the anti-Trump crowd who want to paint Trump as colluding with the Russians and obstructing justice.
In a tweet, Amash wrote:
Mueller’s report identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice, and undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence.This is simply a Democratic talking point. Trump is no doubt a buffoon but to go after him on borderline interferences, if indeed there were such, is simply helping promote the notion of Trump as colluding with Russia despite weak obstruction being the only actual claim.
I am no supporter of most of Trump's policies, but it is positively evil to take a position, as Amash appears to be doing, that attacks Trump on anything close to the Russian collusion fable.
Russia should be a trading partner, not an enemy. Amash's type of perspective, which is held by the anti-Trump crowd, is making this difficult to do.
Trump is a crony as all other modern day presidents have been. If he is impeached, it only will provide to the general public the incorrect impression that Trump was somehow in cahoots with Russia when he was not.
This is the last thing we should be doing. I am highly suspicious of anyone, who you would think might defend Trump, but moves to the anti-Trump camp based on the very weak obstruction reed. This now includes Amash but Judge Napolitano is also firmly in this camp.
You really have to wonder what is going on here.
Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of EconomicPolicyJournal.com and Target Liberty. He also writes EPJ Daily Alert and is author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank and most recently Foundations of Private Property Society Theory: Anarchism for the Civilized Person Follow him on twitter:@wenzeleconomics and on LinkedIn. His youtube series is here: Robert Wenzel Talks Economics. More about Wenzel here.
UPDATE
Never a fan of @justinamash, a total lightweight who opposes me and some of our great Republican ideas and policies just for the sake of getting his name out there through controversy. If he actually read the biased Mueller Report, “composed” by 18 Angry Dems who hated Trump,....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019
....he would see that it was nevertheless strong on NO COLLUSION and, ultimately, NO OBSTRUCTION...Anyway, how do you Obstruct when there is no crime and, in fact, the crimes were committed by the other side? Justin is a loser who sadly plays right into our opponents hands!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019
Trump should be impeached for violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act since he does nothing but act on the behalf of Israel.
ReplyDeleteCoincidently, this article just popped up on my Facebook news feed as a “memory” I posted two years ago by Justin Raimondo and re-posted by the Ron Paul Institute. Perhaps Amash is merely trying to justify his original silly support for the Russiagate investigation.
ReplyDeleteGreenwald & Co. are going to have to choose between appeasing the Democratic base or staying true to their anti-interventionist, pro-civil liberties principles.
The same goes for Rep. Justin Amash, the alleged libertarian Republican congressman from Michigan, who is calling for a special counsel and is sponsoring legislation to set up some kind of “Russian Commission” to look into the issue of alleged Russian “subversion” of our precious bodily fluids. What this would amount to, in effect, would be the restoration of the old House Un-American Activities Committee, which notoriously dragged many writers, actors, and other into the dock, interrogated them, and sent some to prison when they refused to answer questions. The irony of this is that Amash is supposed to be a libertarian, and has made the defense of civil liberties his forte in the House. Yet what does he think will be the result of his “Russian Commission,” if it is ever established? It would be just another device for the government to spy on us, and to intimidate people for having non-approved political opinions. Amash’s support for this cockamamie scheme is inexplicable – unless, that is, he’s trying to stave off another costly primary campaign from the neoconservatives, who hate him. Whatever the reason, his proposal is shameful coming from a supposed libertarian.
https://tinyurl.com/y2ykxoqx
I am not quite sure why they still want to impeach Trump. Isn't he doing pretty much everything the NeoCons want?
ReplyDeleteAnd then some!!
DeleteAt this point, what they are doing is like arresting someone for resisting arrest.
ReplyDeleteHello, Robert,
ReplyDeleteAmash is not taking the position that Trump colluded with Russian agents or the state. He didn't mention this in his recent Tweets. He is expressing the same conclusions that judge Napolitano reached, that the president engaged in a series of obstruction of justice activities that were, in the best light, totally unnecessary and irksome. Per the report, the president's actions show him as a paranoid leader who demands and expects complete obeisance, fealty and love from those in his administration.
You may disagree with his conclusions and that is your right, but it is one thing to disagree with what is a legal analysis and quite another to impugn his intentions based on the target of his attack: "This plays right into the hands of the anti-Trump crowd who want to paint Trump as colluding with the Russians and obstructing justice." Whatever the left may want or not, this is not a justification to attack Amash. The evidence presented by the Muller report does not make the case of conspiracy with Russian officials or agents but it did present a case of obstruction of justice to be pursued by Congress since a sitting president cannot be indicted, only impeached. What of it if leftists want to think the president conspired with Russians? That doesn't lend illegitimacy to the case that obstruction of justice was committed, not unless the universal rules of logic changed these past HOURS.
@olmex, I don't don't know why you use Napolitano as an authority. remember way back when when he was claiming Clinton would be lead away in chains? and he has been wrong on everything since then.
Deletewhy?
Amash has just dropped a anvil on his head. He appears to be standing with the democrats and every good thing he has said on spending and taxation will be forgotten. Trump wanted to get rid of him and he did it to himself.
there is no obstruction. there is trump bitching about the investigation and threatening to do stuff to it and then not doing it. you are looking for Logic? in Politics? Damn.
Hello, heath,
DeleteI'm referencing judge Napolitano because he IS an authority whem it comes to law and the Constitution.
You say there's no obstruction. Based on what? The Muller investigation found no evidence of conspiracy with Russian agents or officials, but explicitly showed efforts to obstruct the investigation. What is your argument based on?
And I made NO claim that logic was lost among politicians but that unless the rules of logic changed all of a sudden, then the fact that leftists want to see 'collusion' doesn't invalidate the argument that the president obstructed the investigation.
This is why I like and respect you Mr Wenzel. You're not afraid to raise questions about people who you more closely align with when they go after people you're not that closely aligned with for spurious reasons.
ReplyDelete"Look, look, the emperor has no clothes!"
ReplyDelete"Silly Amash! Stop saying that. You want the left to win?"
Amash looks like a typical cuckservative and probably just as pansy as Lindsey Graham.
ReplyDeleteOh, my sweet Jesus! Who would have guessed you would say that?
Delete