On Sunday, Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI) appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper to discuss his recently-announced entrance into the 2020 presidential campaign.
Amash first addressed the protests at the Michigan state Capitol building, saying that Governor Whitmer “overreached in a lot of ways, and that upset a lot of people in the state of Michigan.”
While Amash denounced the usage of “Nazi symbols” and the bearing of firearms by protesters because it “might be perceived as some form of intimidation toward legislators,” he added that “everyone has the right to protest,” so long as they do it responsibly.
“And we’re a state that cares about our rights, cares about our freedoms, and we should work together with the governor,” Amash stated.
Tapper then asked Amash about the idea that, as a candidate, he might siphon votes away from presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, thus handing the election to President Trump.
Amash replied, noting that “the important thing is, we don’t know how the additional candidate changes a race. It’s too impossible to figure out. There are too many calculations involved.”
Amash continued, although due to a video error, a portion of his response was lost:
So, the most important thing is that we have a ballot, if you want to vote for someone, you vote for that person, and if you don’t want to vote [VIDEO ERROR] take votes from Joe Biden and Donald Trump because I’m gonna win the election – and we need to win this election for the American people.
Tapper pressed Amash about alleged dissatisfaction with Democrats and Republicans, saying that after taking “a dive into some numbers, just over 10% of voters have an unfavorable view of both President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden,” according to a recent CNN poll.
“It doesn’t sound like there are a vast array of voters dissatisfied with both presidential choices,” Tapper said.
Amash pushed back on that idea, claiming that polling shows “a good portion of the country, probably a plurality, is pretty independent, and they are looking for another choice.”
They might prefer one candidate or the other if you have a two-candidate field, but if you make it a three-candidate field, and you have a compelling candidate, they’d be delighted to go to that candidate.
And for too long, we’ve had the same system where these two parties go at each other, and Washington is totally dysfunctional. That’s why I left the Republican Party, because there was this partisan death spiral. We need someone who’s going to come in as president, respect our Constitution, defend our rights, and fix our representative system of government so that people will actually feel represented at home – and I know that millions of Americans want that.
“No third party candidate in the modern two-party system has ever won the presidency,” Tapper stated before asking Amash why he believes he’s different.
Amash responded, saying that he’s going to “get the message out there about what’s wrong in Washington.”
I think we’re at a crossroads. There is a difference over the last decade or so where people are more polarized, more upset – but actually, most Americans are delightful people, are polite people, want to work with each other, respect each other, and these two factions that really control our political system are destroying our system and making it impossible for the rest of us to, frankly, enjoy our lives.
So, I want to go there and represent these millions of people, and I think we are at that crossroads where this kind of change can happen. Things are not settled the way they were maybe 30/40 years ago. We have a lot of uncertainty right now, and there’s an opening for a Libertarian Party to become a major party in this country.
Amash later added: “Congress needs to work for the people. The executive branch needs to execute the laws. And right now, if you have Donald Trump or Joe Biden as president, those things are not going to happen. You’re going to have the same system you’ve had for the past decade.”
“Congress needs to work for the people. The executive branch needs to execute the laws. And right now if you have Donald Trump or Joe Biden as President, those things are not going to happen.” – Libertarian presidential candidate Justin Amash on why he’s entered the race #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/9THJuWSDaC
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) May 3, 2020
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