Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI), the Never Trump libertarian-leaning congressman who quit the Republican Party last year, announced Saturday that he will not run for president after recently launching an exploratory committee for the Libertarian Party’s White House nomination.
“I’ve spent nearly three weeks assessing the race, appearing in media, talking to delegates and donors, watching the Libertarian Party’s convention plan unfold, and gathering feedback from family, friends, and other advisers,” Amash wrote on Twitter. “After much reflection, I’ve concluded that circumstances don’t lend themselves to my success as a candidate for president this year, and therefore I will not be a candidate.”
In late April, Amash revealed that was mulling a possible run for the White House after President Donald Trump affirmed that he has “total” authority over when states will lift their stay-at-home orders that were implemented as part of an effort to combat the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
The Michigan congressman left the GOP last July, claiming his colleagues had turned a blind eye to “misbehavior” by President Trump and allowed the national debt to soar under his administration.
“This president will be in power for only a short time, but excusing his misbehavior will forever tarnish your name,” Amash said ahead of his support for a House impeachment resolution in October. “To my Republican colleagues: Step outside your media and social bubble. History will not look kindly on disingenuous, frivolous, and false defenses of this man.”
President Trump celebrated Amash’s departure from the GOP, branding him a “total loser.”
“Great news for the Republican Party as one of the dumbest & most disloyal men in Congress is ‘quitting’ the Party,” he tweeted at the time. “No Collusion, No Obstruction! Knew he couldn’t get the nomination to run again in the Great State of Michigan. Already being challenged for his seat. A total loser!”
Amash’s rejection of President Trump’s America First agenda has earned him primary challenges from Michigan State Rep. Jim Lower (R) and Army National Guardsman Tom Norton.
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