A week or two ago there was some speculation and conversation that Justin Amash should be added as one of the team of House managers for the Senate impeachment trial. He was fresh off a pointed Twitter thread explaining how he thought Ds could have made better use of their Judiciary Committee hearings.
The verdict here was mixed. On the one hand, having a prominent non-Demcratic personality have a prominent role could lend a non-partisan impratamteur to the whole thing. On the other hand, he’s an arch conservative Libertarian who otherwise stands against almost everything we hold dear (with a few civil liberties/foreign policy exceptions) and on top of that probably can’t be trusted.
Yesterday, I read an post on Twitter suggesting that in fact their is still a push from inside the Dem caucus to make Amash a manager, but obviously Pelosi will have the final say.
In my opinion, the upcoming party flip of Jeff Van Drew makes it more urgent to bring Amash in. Trump can now say — impeachment is such bullshit that Dems are not only voting against it, but switching parties over it.
In addition to the practical side of bringing in Amash (he seems to have a way of reaching conservatives on the issue that Ds just cant), there is also the theatrical side. We need a flip (or at least an alliance) to counter JVD’s flip.
And from a narrower partisan perspective putting Amash in the spotlight might increase his profile (or at least act as free advertising), making it more likely that he secures enough votes to split that district and give the Dem the win.