Justin Amash Explores Libertarian Presidential Bid, Trump Eggs On Candidate Who May Siphon Biden Votes

President Trump egged on Michigan Rep. Justin Amash on Wednesday after he announced his bid for the Libertarian Party ticket in the 2020 election. Amash on Tuesday night unveiled his official website and later posted on Twitter: "Let's do this."

Trump made the comments in a response to an op-ed by Joe Walsh, a former Illinois representative who challenged Trump for the Republican nomination in the primaries, but dropped out in February. The Washington Post opinion piece by Walsh suggests that Amash’s candidacy could “siphon enough votes” from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden “to hand the election to Trump,” with Walsh discouraging Amash from moving further with his candidacy.

“No, I think Amash would make a wonderful candidate, especially since he is way behind in his district and has no chance of maintaining his Congressional seat” Trump tweeted. “He almost always votes for the Do Nothing Dems anyway. I like him even more than Jill Stein!”

Stein ran on the Green Party ticket in 2016 and has been accused of taking votes away from then-Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. A report commissioned by the Senate revealed in December 2018 that fake social media accounts were created by Russians to support Stein as a way to help Trump defeat Clinton.

As for Amash, it's unclear if his presidential bid would hurt Trump or Biden. Libertarians are on the ballot of 36 states. In 2016, Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson did not win a state but captured nearly 4.5 million votes. Stein received over 1.4 million votes.

Amash left the Republican Party in July, saying he was tired of the “partisan death spiral” of national politics. Amash was often critical of Trump, and called for his impeachment after the Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election was released in April 2019.

“Mueller’s report identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice,” Amash said in May 2019. He claimed that “undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence.”

Amash, an Arab-American, has represented Michigan’s 3rd district in the House of Representatives since 2011. He describes himself as a libertarian and was one of the founding members of the House Freedom Caucus. He has opposed government bailouts and tax increases while pushing for a balanced federal budget. He has more liberal stances on issues such as drug policy and military spending but holds pro-life views on abortion.