May 15, 2020
In 2013, there was a suspicious gas attack against civilians in Syria. President Barack Obama and much of the media began blaming Syrian President Assad of attacking his own people with a vicious gas attack during the civil war he was waging against rebel forces.
The drum beat for war and US involvement began quickly within the Obama administration and the US House was on their typical August recess. Second term congressman, Justin Amash, was concerned that we were headed for another war without Congressional approval and insisted publicly that the House convene to discuss the issue.
In order to gain public support to resist the administration's plans and the push from the DC media and think tanks he conducted a series of 11 town halls in his district in two days. Not surprisingly, he found virtually no support for conflict amongst his constituents and a narrative was quickly created that the American public was against a Syrian War.
Through his use of social media, instincts, and getting the national media to appear before his town halls he shocked the establishment in DC that their view of the world was not shared by most Americans when it came to war. Momentum quickly spread across the country as other members of Congress held their own town halls discovering the same sentiment too. Before long, the involvement of US troops in Syria was shelved much to the chagrin of Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain.