Justin Amash does not fear being held accountable, which is a pretty cool thing for a politician in a democracy. It's increasingly hard to remember how these things are supposed to work, but in theory, people elect a representative to represent them in, say, the national legislature. Those voters then monitor the behavior of that representative and decide if he is representing their interests. If he isn't, they can hold him accountable by voting him out or screaming at him at a town hall. That's democracy, and Amash facilitates it by defending every one of his votes on his Facebook page.

While a lot of his Republican colleagues have canceled town hall appearances in the Trump Era rather than defend the president or his attempt at healthcare "reform," Amash just held one after he became the first Republican in Congress to publicly state that Donald Trump, American president, committed impeachable offenses. This statement is clearly true if you read the report, which lays out in detail how the president repeatedly obstructed justice. That may be why Trumpist lapdogs like Lindsey Graham have opted to simply not read it—in part or, one often suspects, in very large part. They admit this openly, then declare the report says NO COLLUSION! NO OBSTRUCTION! But not Amash. He actually read the report, and in a series of Twitter threads has scythed through the noise to state the clear truth of the matter.

On May 18, he stated his principle conclusions. You can click through the tweet to see his clear and extended reasoning.

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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. — Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 18, 2019

On May 23, Amash further laid out how Trump's attempts to meddle in and obstruct the Russia probe constitute a violation of the public trust that provides grounds for impeachment. Again, you can click through.

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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. — Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 23, 2019

And Tuesday, shortly before he headed to the town hall, he shellacked the behavior of William Barr, Trump's pet toad of an attorney general who has relentlessly misrepresented the findings of the Mueller Report and now threatens to become complicit in the president's campaign to see his political enemies prosecuted.

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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. — Justin Amash (@justinamash) May 28, 2019

This was some prologue to facing his constituents, who for Amash are residents of his right-leaning district that encompasses Grand Rapids, Michigan, its suburbs, and Battle Creek. The demographics are changing in Michigan's Third, and it's not exactly Trump country, but Amash was always bound to face some Red Hats who believe he has betrayed The Leader and is somehow a Democrat now. Here's how he handled that.

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Amash's voting record is incredibly conservative—and, honestly, a symptom of the radical anti-government rhetoric that has sloshed around the conservative movement since Reagan and corroded our political commonwealth in the process—and, in his view, has not changed since Trump was elected.

It's the Republican Party, Amash suggests, that has changed, jettisoning what now was clearly bad-faith concern about The Deficit or Our National Debt That We're Leaving Our Innocent Children in favor of tax cuts and military spending hikes. (These fiscal concerns only seem to register when a Democrat is president.) If Amash was elected on a Trump loyalist platform, he's failing his constituents, but he contends he was elected as a "constitutional conservative." The suggestion he's a Democrat now that he opposes the constitutional abuses of Donald Trump is a sure sign that the Republican base has traded allegiance to the Constitution for allegiance to The Leader.

Elsewhere, he endured an explosion out of the right-wing infotainment ecosystem, as a proud supporter of Donald Trump, American president, rattled off the whole FISA warrant whataboutist conspiracy and declared the nation would descend into civil war if Trump is impeached. (It's worth noting that only one side consistently floats—sometimes in frothing anticipation—the prospect of violent conflict to resolve political disputes. Also, this would be violent insurrection in response to Congress exercising powers vested in the body by the Constitution.) Amash had the receipts in response.

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After a #MAGA woman passionately argues her positions on Trump, including her views about FISA abuses on his campaign, Justin Amash steps up to bat and had this to say about it. pic.twitter.com/FhpDWDYk12 — Quincy 🌹 (@QuincyMckall) May 29, 2019

FISA courts do present constitutional concerns, but Trumpists are not voicing them in good faith. Not only, as Amash said elsewhere, does the prospect of FISA abuse only apply to a slice of the Russia investigation. And not only was that surveillance conducted only after the government secured a warrant after presenting a FISA judge with probable cause. The same Trumpists who are yelling about the specter of Deep State abuses flatly rejected Amash's attempt to end FISA 702, a provision that allows the government to surveil citizens without securing a warrant from a judge. "It's an excuse," Amash says of the FISA rhetoric that so often comes crashing out of Sean Hannity's mouth. It's hard to argue.

But the real cherry on top was elsewhere.

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Pretty rare moment in politics. @justinamash says some of his colleagues agree with him about President Trump and the Mueller report but won't speak out publicly. pic.twitter.com/3APeeiI3US — Daniel Lewis (@Daniel_Lewis3) May 28, 2019

“If we have a society where all we care about is that the other side is ‘bad,’ and therefore we don’t have to do the right thing," Amash says, "then that society will break down. You will have no liberty.”

There must be some higher allegiance than partisanship and getting re-elected. That second Trump supporter declared Amash had failed to represent his constituents over the last two years, which again implies it's not in their interest for him to defend the Constitution above the current Leader. If she represents a widely held viewpoint, though, those constituents will band together to oust him next year. Regardless of whether that happens, Amash can rest in the knowledge that he more loudly and effectively defended the Constitution than the Democratic leaders whom these Trump folks believe have orchestrated a "coup" to remove the president. He has stuck to principle in the knowledge he might be held accountable. While Nancy Pelosi waffles and talks of "self-impeachment," a Republican from a red slice of Michigan has been unequivocal.

Jack Holmes Politics Editor Jack Holmes is the Politics Editor at Esquire, where he writes daily and edits the Politics Blog with Charles P Pierce.

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