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CNN Guest: Amash Quit GOP Because He ‘Could Not Win A Republican Primary’

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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CNN guest Scott Jennings argued Sunday that independent Michigan Rep. Justin Amash quit the Republican Party because it was politically expedient.

During a panel segment on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Jennings lit into Amash, who announced on Thursday that he was leaving the Republican Party over its refusal to push back hard enough against President Donald Trump. (RELATED: Justin Amash Leaves The Republican Party)

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Former Republican Utah Rep. Mia Love suggested that Amash’s decision was hardly out of character.

“First of all, he’s not doing anything that he’s not done in the past, he likes being on his own,” Love explained. “He loves being a person that will make a bold statement and be — and vote across — vote with Nancy Pelosi most of the time if he feels like that is — that is going to shake up the process.”

Love wasn’t sure that Amash would be able to make much headway as a caucus of one, however, adding, “But where he’s actually leaving the party and thinks that he’s going to be able to change the process from being a one person in his own caucus speaking to himself, it is unrealistic to think you’ll change anything.”

Jennings, who previously worked as an advisor for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, had a different take.

“What a burden it must be to be the smartest person in a room full of 435 people,” Jennings cut in. “He went to the Freedom Caucus and tried to change things and nobody would listen and went to committee hearings and nobody would listen. I didn’t think it was possible for him to be more irrelevant in Congress but he found a way.”

Then Jennings went on to argue that the only reason Amash ultimately left the GOP was political.

“With his voting record and views on the president, he could not win a Republican primary in Michigan. It is born out of political expediency and he will run for re-election unless he runs for president and the fact is he’s never been able to work with others and never affected change on behalf of his district,” Jennings concluded. “It strikes me that the people of Michigan want somebody else.”