While Trump Clings to Power, Justin Amash Has Left the Building

While the Internet was exploding Sunday over the leak of President Donald Trump’s shameful, lawyer-laden phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Ben Raffensberger, a more orderly yet still significant transfer of power was taking place: Iraq vet and supermarket heir Peter Meijer (R–Mich.) was sworn into office, replacing five-term Republican-turned-independent-turned-Libertarian Justin Amash.

Amash, no stranger to Reason‘s pages and pixels, was perhaps the most incisive internal critic of congressional process, the biggest exemplar of vote-explaining transparency, and of course a big fat libertarian (metaphorically speaking), who went out the door introducing all kinds of libertarian-wishlist bills. So concludeth Peter Suderman, Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Nick Gillespie on today’s Reason Roundtable podcast.

The gang also squabbles over the import of the Trumpian election shenanigans, weighs in on the character vs. ideology debate, and responds to our first-ever non-Webathon listener mail. (Speaking of which, send your questions to [email protected], pretty please!)

Audio production by Ian Keyser and Regan Taylor.

Music: “I Say” by Night Owl.

Relevant links from the show:

“Legislator Posts Votes on Facebook. All of Them,” by Katherine Mangu-Ward

“Rep. Justin Amash Profiled: Moving Forward with Ron Paul Republicanism,” by Brian Doherty

“Justin Amash Declares Independence From Republican Party,” by Matt Welch

“Justin Amash Becomes the First Libertarian Member of Congress,” by Matt Welch

“Justin Amash: People Want a President ‘Who Is Normal, Honest, Practical, Capable,’” by Nick Gillespie

“Justin Amash’s Tenure as the Libertarian Party’s First Member in Congress Will Be Shortlived,” by Elizabeth Nolan Brown

“Justin Amash Introduces Bill To End Forever National Emergencies,” by Billy Binion

“Trump’s Conversation With Georgia Election Officials Shows His Conviction That He Won Is Impervious to Evidence,” by Jacob Sullum

“Trump Fishes for Votes in Georgia as GOP Senators Fight Over Election Certification,” by Elizabeth Nolan Brown

“Ted Cruz Plans To Restore Confidence in the Election System by Lending Credence to the Wild Fraud Claims of a ‘Pathological Liar,’” by Jacob Sullum

“Trump Wasn’t a Dictator, but He Played One on TV,” by Gene Healy

“In Defense of COVID Billionaires,” by Katherine Mangu-Ward