Orthodox Christian • Hayekian individualist • libertarian-republican • constitutional conservative • classical liberal • member of Congress, 2011–2021
Grand Rapids, Michigan
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Thanks to @LPNational for inviting me to deliver a keynote at the Libertarian National Convention in my hometown of Grand Rapids.
As we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, I spoke about our libertarian heritage, the Constitution under assault, and how we must seize this moment.
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Here are my principal conclusions:
1. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller’s report.
2. President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.
3. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances.
4. Few members of Congress have read the report.
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The election fraud hoax will go down as one of the most embarrassing and dishonorable episodes in American political history, and countless Republican officials went along with it and promoted it.
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Donald Trump is a threat to our liberty, our Constitution, and the Rule of Law.
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If you’re a Republican, please ask yourself if the party really represents your principles and values. You don’t need to become a Democrat. Simply stand up for what is right. America’s tradition of liberty is beautiful, and it depends on our love and respect for one another.
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What have Republicans gained from Trump and Trumpism? We’re witnessing the collapse of a political party.
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To tell these American citizens (most of whom were born here) to “go back” to the “crime infested places from which they came” is racist and disgusting.
So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly......
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Donald Trump needs to resign or be removed from office. America has endured enough.
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Knowing that his successor opposes the death penalty, Donald Trump has rushed to execute as many people as possible before the transition. He has executed more individuals in weeks than had been federally executed in more than 60 years. Absolutely shameful. End the death penalty.
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This president will be in power for only a short time, but excusing his misbehavior will forever tarnish your name. To my Republican colleagues: Step outside your media and social bubble. History will not look kindly on disingenuous, frivolous, and false defenses of this man.
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I was really worried about this. 😔 With great sadness, I have now confirmed that several of my relatives (including Viola and Yara pictured here) were killed at Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza, where they had been sheltering, when part of the complex was destroyed as the result of an Israeli airstrike. Give rest, O Lord, to their souls, and may their memories be eternal.
The Palestinian Christian community has endured so much. Our family is hurting badly. May God watch over all Christians in Gaza—and all Israelis and Palestinians who are suffering, whatever their religion or creed.
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The ball is in our court, Congress.
BREAKING: Special counsel Robert Mueller says charging President Trump with a crime was "not an option" because of Justice Department guidelines. apne.ws/h9MCkGb
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Our Constitution doesn’t authorize the president to act as king whenever Congress doesn’t legislate.
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End qualified immunity.
End civil asset forfeiture.
End the drug war.
End overcriminalization.
End no-knock warrants.
End militarization of police.
End mandatory minimums.
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Conservatives will someday face the horrible truth that the Republican Party fought so hard to justify and excuse an amoral and self-serving president, and what he gave them in return was bigger government and erosion of the principles and values they once claimed to cherish.
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Sarah Sanders can’t think of anything dumber than the Constitution.
Fox News contributor Sarah Sanders on war powers: "I can't think of anything dumber than allowing Congress to take over our foreign policy ... The last thing we want to do is push powers into Congress' hands and take them away from the president." (h/t .@tylermonroe7)
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I was once stripped of a committee assignment for voting differently from Paul Ryan on a budget resolution.
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I swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution, not an oath to do the bidding of one man or one political party. We have a constitutional republic to uphold liberty and the Rule of Law, not a direct democracy to serve some at the expense of others.
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A chant like “Send her back!” is ugly and dangerous, and it is the inevitable consequence of President Trump’s demagoguery. This is how history’s worst episodes begin. We must not allow this man to take us to such a place.
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There still has not been a public briefing from executive branch or law enforcement officials regarding the attack on the Capitol. What the hell is going on here?
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Today, I’m declaring my independence.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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Based on my experience with Republican colleagues in the House, I suspect that many Senate Republicans are hearing the facts of this case for the first time.
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Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented key aspects of Mueller’s report and decisions in the investigation, which has helped further the president’s false narrative about the investigation.
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It’s as though the White House is unfamiliar with the difference between impeachment in the House and trial in the Senate. It’s also as though the White House is unfamiliar with the Constitution generally.
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He sells troops.
“We have a very good relationship with Saudi Arabia—I said, listen, you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you, but you’ve got to pay us. They’re paying us. They’ve already deposited $1B in the bank.”
Acyn
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Constitution: Wrong.
President Trump: I do not need congressional approval to strike Iran
@HillTVLive hill.cm/6JTWvvg
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That was one of the most dishonest and despotic speeches ever given by a president of the United States.
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What the president is doing is not healthy. He has the right to pursue legal challenges—even futile ones, but he is hurting himself and the country with his absurd proclamations. Republicans in Congress need to intercede.
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People trust @joerogan not because he’s always right, but because he’s transparent, curious, gracious, humble about knowledge, and willing to consider perspectives that challenge and reshape his own thinking. We need more of this in media, in politics, in business, in life.
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We’ve had many terrible attorneys general in recent decades, but Bill Barr represents a unique awfulness. He wholly endorses the surveillance state, promotes executive supremacy, repeatedly undermines the Rule of Law, and clearly views his role as that of a political operative.
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We witnessed the murder of George Floyd on video in broad daylight. Why have the perpetrators not been arrested and charged? Where is the justice?
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He literally signed warrantless surveillance of Americans into law on January 19, 2018, with the reauthorization of FISA 702.
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Republican senators can evade responsibility, but they cannot escape the judgment of history.
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We swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution, not an oath to support and defend Donald Trump’s abuse of the office of the presidency.
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People who say there were no underlying crimes and therefore the president could not have intended to illegally obstruct the investigation—and therefore cannot be impeached—are resting their argument on several falsehoods:
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This week, I am introducing the Ending Qualified Immunity Act to eliminate qualified immunity and restore Americans’ ability to obtain relief when police officers violate their constitutionally secured rights.
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Donald Trump is deploying unmarked federal police, decked out like a paramilitary force, to grab Americans off the streets. He’s not protecting liberty; he’s practicing tyranny.
President Trump: "In Portland they've done a fantastic job... No problem. They grab them. Lot of people in jail."
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America’s institutions depend on officials to uphold both the rules and spirit of our constitutional system even when to do so is personally inconvenient or yields a politically unfavorable outcome. Our Constitution is brilliant and awesome; it deserves a government to match it.
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Senator Graham continues to mislead. The Constitution divides impeachment and trial between the House and Senate. The House impeachment is an indictment. The process he’s demanding happens in the Senate trial. No defendant participates in an indictment in the way he’s suggesting.
One of the cornerstones of American jurisprudence is due process – the right to confront your accuser, call witnesses on your behalf, and challenge the accusations against you.
None of this is occurring in the House.
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Abuse of power is impeachable.
Impeachment trials have witnesses.
By rejecting these principles, the Senate does lasting harm to our constitutional republic.
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Mueller’s report describes a consistent effort by the president to use his office to obstruct or otherwise corruptly impede the Russian election interference investigation because it put his interests at risk.
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Kevin McCarthy again displays his unique brand of incompetence and dishonesty.
60 Minutes
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No president has my undying support. My allegiance is to the Constitution, and my duty is to uphold the Rule of Law and secure the rights of the people.
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Libertarians, constitutional conservatives, and classical liberals believe in protecting whistleblowers to expose government corruption. Trump Republicans believe in exposing whistleblowers to protect government corruption.
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The acting Navy secretary is unfit for office. He should resign or be removed immediately. taskandpurpose.com/news/navy…
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It’s pretty simple, @mattgaetz.
The high crime is using his public office to solicit the aid of a foreign government for personal gain.
The victim is society itself.
Hamilton lays out the principles of impeachment in Federalist No. 65. History will see the GOP ignored history.
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The fact that President Trump and his legal team do not understand why it violates the Constitution for the president to solicit aid from a foreign power for personal gain does not immunize him from impeachment and removal.
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The problem isn’t @joerogan; it’s people who demand submission to their views and seek to silence others rather than persuade.
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More American troops are now in the Middle East than at the end of President Obama’s term. The rate of drone strikes is up, too.
President Trump is not ending wars; he’s expanding them. He’s not bringing troops home; he’s sending them there.
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I’m all for the pardon power, but it should be used in all instances to cure injustices, not to help friends and associates evade justice.
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How about we end the war without inviting the Taliban to dinner on the week of 9/11?
Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday. They were coming to the United States tonight. Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to..
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There was a time when the GOP establishment hated Donald Trump. They then realized they could use a man like this—unprincipled, transactional, shameless—to push their agenda. McConnell and McCarthy are giddy about Trump. Conservatives in Congress are the ones privately horrified.
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Under our Constitution, the power to commence war lies with Congress, not the president and certainly not Saudi Arabia. We don’t take orders from foreign powers.
Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!
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Hunter Biden is like a lot of unimpressive people in public life, including the Trumps—trading on his name for power. But if Trump believed an illegality occurred, then why didn’t the administration open a proper DoJ investigation instead of pushing Ukraine for an announcement?
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The federal government should not be dictating when or how our kids go to school.
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Bill Taylor’s testimony is devastating evidence that President Trump engaged in both a corrupt act and a quid pro quo.
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Expect witness tampering to be an article of impeachment.
Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.
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Every day, President Trump and his defenders tell us not to believe our own eyes and ears. We read or hear the president’s words, and we’re told to reject the natural and ordinary meaning. We see evidence of wrongdoing, and we’re told it proves virtue.
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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.
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This is simple. Keep it simple.
The White House released security assistance to Ukraine only after Congress started asking questions. Why? Considering that Bolton, Giuliani, Mulvaney, and others may have pertinent first-hand testimony, why won’t President Trump let them testify?
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“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.
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The federal government under Donald Trump has executed more individuals in recent months than had been executed in the preceding 60 years. The death penalty is inhumane and fraught with error. No government should have this power. It’s past time to #AbolishTheDeathPenalty.
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Thank you, @SenatorRomney, for upholding your oath to support and defend the Constitution. You will never regret putting your faith in God and doing right according to the law and your conscience.
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The president again stands with Saudi royals against Congress. This brutal regime should not have our military support.
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Just ten years after the Tea Party movement, Republicans in Congress are defending a $500 billion corporate welfare fund for a select group of large companies.
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No vaccine passport. It doesn’t get much more dystopian than being required to show your “health papers” wherever you go.
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"He was one of Donald Trump's biggest enablers," Amash said, adding he thinks "it's ridiculous" that Ryan waited until leaving office to level criticisms at the president.
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He has straightened it all the way out to about $23 trillion and counting.
"@FoxNews: @realDonaldTrump: “When you have $18-$19 trillion in debt, they need someone like me to straighten it out"
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With respect, my friend @HurdOnTheHill applies the wrong standard. House impeachment is an indictment, not a conviction. The question in the House is whether there is probable cause to charge President Trump with an impeachable offense. The answer to that question is clearly yes.
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In comparing Barr’s principal conclusions, congressional testimony, and other statements to Mueller’s report, it is clear that Barr intended to mislead the public about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s analysis and findings.
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The White House itself released a memorandum of the telephone conversation, and the president has admitted to wrongdoing, even if he claims not to understand why it’s wrong. Nearly every Trump ally’s defense has been an effort to gaslight America.
In America you can’t even get a parking ticket based on hearsay testimony.
But you can impeach a president?
I certainly hope not.
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If you think my job is to support the president one hundred percent, then you don’t understand what it means to be a representative in Congress. My job is to support the Constitution one hundred percent and to represent all the people of my district by protecting their rights.
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Under our Constitution, the role of Congress on January 6 is to witness the opening of certificates and counting of votes by the president of the Senate. To use this occasion to substitute their own determinations for those of the states is to reject a basic tenet of our system.
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Our system of checks and balances relies on each branch’s jealously guarding its powers and upholding its duties under our Constitution. When loyalty to a political party or to an individual trumps loyalty to the Constitution, the Rule of Law—the foundation of liberty—crumbles.
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The “cash” is compliments of American taxpayers. It’s called a bailout. President Trump raises consumer prices with tariffs (taxes on Americans), hurts American farmers, and then takes money from taxpayers to aid the farmers he hurt.
Our great Farmers will recieve another major round of “cash,” compliments of China Tariffs, prior to Thanksgiving. The smaller farms and farmers will be big beneficiaries. In the meantime, and as you may have noticed, China is starting to buy big again. Japan deal DONE. Enjoy!
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Impeachment, which is a special form of indictment, does not even require probable cause that a crime (e.g., obstruction of justice) has been committed; it simply requires a finding that an official has engaged in careless, abusive, corrupt, or otherwise dishonorable conduct.
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So that everyone is clear, Trump’s team is simultaneously arguing that the House should enforce its subpoenas in court *and* that it is unconstitutional for a court to enforce the House’s subpoenas.
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I offer these conclusions only after having read Mueller’s redacted report carefully and completely, having read or watched pertinent statements and testimony, and having discussed this matter with my staff, who thoroughly reviewed materials and provided me with further analysis.
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You don’t impeach a president for ordinary crimes and misdemeanors. You impeach a president for high crimes and misdemeanors.
You don’t look to statutes. You look to whether his behavior involves abusing power, violating the public trust, or using his office for personal gain.
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There was no perfect time or way to exit Afghanistan. President Biden directed the evacuation of more than one hundred thousand people and got our troops out. I disagree with the president on a lot, but I’m grateful he pushed through despite all the pressure.
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Just do what is right. Stop waiting for others to act first. Take responsibility for yourself and set an example.
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Few members of Congress even read Mueller’s report; their minds were made up based on partisan affiliation—and it showed, with representatives and senators from both parties issuing definitive statements on the 448-page report’s conclusions within just hours of its release.
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Donald Trump is a threat to liberty in America. He has grown government, centralized power, and undermined rights. He has promoted division and contempt. He appears increasingly unstable. In 2020, we must elect someone who will restore respect for our Constitution and each other.
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In fact, Mueller’s report identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice, and undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence.
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While impeachment should be undertaken only in extraordinary circumstances, the risk we face in an environment of extreme partisanship is not that Congress will employ it as a remedy too often but rather that Congress will employ it so rarely that it cannot deter misconduct.
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Under our Constitution, the president “shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” While “high Crimes and Misdemeanors” is not defined, the context implies conduct that violates the public trust.
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Impeachment in the House is an indictment. If this were an ordinary prosecution, there’s no grand jury in America that would not return an indictment on the facts and evidence presented in these hearings.
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