Marcus Ringnalda has donated to Rep. Justin Amash’s political campaigns for years, and he says he has no plans to stop now that Mr. Amash has become the chief Republican voice calling for President Trump’s impeachment.
Mr. Ringnalda said that kind of independent commitment to principles is what voters in Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District wanted to see when they backed Mr. Amash in the first place.
“I’ve been a constituent and supporter of Justin since he was in the Statehouse here,” Mr. Ringnalda said. “He has kind of always cut through the political B.S. and been very open and honest about why he decides to do what he does.”
Mr. Amash has become a Rorschach test since he announced his support for impeaching Mr. Trump two weeks ago.
He’s gained more press attention since then than in his previous eight years in office combined and has Democrats cheering. But Mr. Trump labeled him a loser, the White House has said it won’t waste its time responding to Mr. Amash, and party leaders are facing questions over whether they’ll punish him for his apostasy.
“It is a shame that Congressman Amash continues to traffic in ridiculous smears that only fuel the Democrats’ absurd impeachment charade,” RNC spokesman Michael Joyce said. “We’ll leave it to the voters in that district, who overwhelmingly supported President Trump in 2016, to decide if they approve of how their representative is using his time in Congress.”
Rob Steele, a member of the Republican National Committee from Michigan, said Mr. Amash’s constituents “are disappointed that he is working with Democrats to push impeachment, rather than using his microphone to encourage Democrats” to bolster border security, fix the immigration system and pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
Even Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who with Mr. Amash is the most prominent libertarian Republican in Congress, criticized the lawmaker’s stance.
“As a libertarian Republican, I think the whole investigation has an un-libertarian feel,” Mr. Paul said Thursday on Fox. “You have an intelligence community that has so much power, that many libertarians, we’ve always said that, ’Gosh, this much power could be abused.’ “
Local officials, meanwhile, signaled their first loyalty in the dust-up is to Mr. Trump.
“We support the president,” Vivian Conner, chairwoman of the Barry County Republican Party, told The Washington Times Thursday, adding Mr. Amash “is a congressman who does have the right for his own decisions and what he feels is right.”
Miranda L. Sharp Boisseau of the Ionia County Republican Party echoed that sentiment — but explicitly welcomed challengers who might want to unseat Mr. Amash.
“President Trump has proven his ability to grow America’s economy, protect our borders and protect our Republican principles and policies. Congressman Amash serves as an elected official and has the right to his opinion,” Ms. Sharp said in a statement. “He does deserve the respect of that position. However, anyone can run and all are encouraged to run in the primary.”
State Rep. Jim Lower has already announced he will launch a primary challenge. He told The Washington Post this week that he has not read special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, but agrees with those saying the findings show that Mr. Trump’s conduct should no longer be questioned.
Mr. Amash also has lost the support of GOP megadonors from the DeVos family who recently said they have severed ties with Mr. Amash after sinking hundreds of thousands of dollars into his campaigns since 2010 and are open to supporting other candidates.
Small-dollar backers, though, said they stand by their investment in Mr. Amash.
“I’ve donated consistently since he first ran for Congress in 2010, and I plan to continue to do so,” said William Hall, a lawyer. “I’ve supported Justin Amash all along because of his free-market approach to things, which is getting to be rare among some Republicans.”
Like most of his stances, Mr. Amash has not been shy about asserting his views.
He’s taken to Twitter to deliver long discourses on why Mr. Trump’s behavior has risen to the level of impeachment and to criticize Attorney General William P. Barr for his handling of the Mueller report.
“Contrary to Barr’s portrayal, Mueller’s report reveals that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment,” Mr. Amash tweeted.
James Eldersveld, a supporter, said Mr. Amash has been a portrait of consistency.
“If people vote him out of office, then it has more to say about the people in the district changing their views than it does about him changing his views,” he said.
That dynamic was on display this week when a woman in a Make America Great Again hat, later identified as Diane Luke, told him at a town hall meeting that she has supported him since he first ran for Congress and that she could not find the words to articulate her disappointment.
“My question is how can you become a Democrat when we voted for you as a Republican?” she asked. “Because you just drank the same Kool-Aid as all the Democrats.”
Mr. Amash stood his ground, saying “I haven’t changed” and pointing out that he has compiled a voting record that has won him high, if not perfect, marks from conservative groups that keep congressional scorecards.
“I am who I always said I was. I am a principled, constitutional conservative,” he said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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