Donald Trump has bizarre reaction to Justin Amash’s third party candidacy
Justin Amash announced last night that he’s launching an exploratory committee for running as the libertarian candidate in the 2020 presidential election. The response has been overwhelmingly negative; almost no one is in the mood for these kinds of antics right now. But Donald Trump’s response was nothing short of surreal:
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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. He almost always votes for the Do Nothing Dems anyway. I like him even more than Jill Stein! https://t.co/V8kutnfvIj
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 29, 2020
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It’s important to understand that no one has any way of knowing for sure how any given third party candidate might impact the election. Amash, a far right conservative, could pull votes away from Trump. But he could also pull votes away from anti-Trump conservatives who would otherwise have voted for Joe Biden.
People like Amash run because it’s an easy way to raise their profile and set themselves up for profitable book sales and speaking gigs afterward. Amash is an anti-government loon who thinks both parties are the devil, so he doesn’t care who wins, which means he thinks he’s not doing any harm by manipulating the election for his own personal financial gain.
Because Donald Trump is so far behind to begin with, and so very likely to lose anyway, he probably figures there’s no harm in a wildcard like Justin Amash. It’s like when a football team is down by ten points in the fourth quarter and starts throwing risky passes that have a good chance of making things even worse, because what’s the difference, they’re on track to lose anyway.
As with all developments in this election cycle, this comes down entirely to what you choose to do with it. If you use Amash’s candidacy as an excuse to just sit there and come up with reasons why your side is going to lose, then you’re hurting your side. If you use Amash’s candidacy as motivation to get out there and drive voter registration and voter turnout for your side, then you’re in good shape.
