Regarding the Justin Amash/Donald Trump Controversy

1. Justin Amash in my opinion did not got out of his way to attack or condemn Trump. Amash during his tenure in congress has made an admirable effort to always put forward his thoughts publicly on every vote and issue to be transparent and serve his constituents. Not reading the report and publishing his honest take would be uncharacteristic of Amash. This is very much just Amash’s day to day for those who’ve followed him over the years and less a tactic to signal or maneuver politically while everyone else has used it as such.
2. The reaction to this has illustrated how little people understand the differences between impeachment/indictment/conviction the reasons for these things and the levels of evidence required to undergo them and the much lower levels of evidence or reason used to indict or impeach people in the past.
3. Regarding the Libertarian Party, while many libertarian individuals are welcoming and not welcoming of the idea of an Amash run, who is the candidate at the end of the day will be decided by the delegates at the 2020 convention in Austin. You want to influence that decision you need to be involved in the Party now, social media speculation does not equal a delegate vote. See you in Austin.
4. The media and fervor to make this something greater than it is. has been great for Amash and Libertarians. Amash’s being sanctioned the Freedom caucus has made him a Martyr to independent voters only growing the influence of a handful of tweets. In the media the discussion has been the differences of traditional republican conservatism versus philosophical libertarianism in much more thoughtful conversations than I’ve heard the media have ever before. When the conversation is framed conservatives vs libertarians, who has been removed from the conversation? Progressives. This is a dynamic that will certainly shape the points of views of apolitical independents who usually don’t have any particular ideological allegiance to a world where third option can exist. I am very glad to see this dynamic.

Sit back, enjoy, and let’s keep organizing and working because regardless, without the hard work on the ground no progress will be made.

Sincerely,

Alex Merced

Vice Chair of the Libertarian National Committee