In fact, understanding the rise and fall of Amash may be a helpful way of predicting the future of the Squad. After all, both ran during wave years for their parties — and with minimal aid from their national wings. In the case of Ocasio-Cortez and Pressley, it was outright opposition: they won their seats in 2018 by ousting long-serving establishment incumbents in the primaries. And they continue to capture national attention because they embody the spirit of resistance to President Donald Trump that has been moving within the party since its dramatic loss in the 2016 presidential election.

Amash and his ilk captured the attention of the Republican Party much the same way in 2010. A crew of libertarians who had gorged their minds on the free-market, deficit-slashing writings of Friedrich Hayek and Frédéric Bastiat attacked the party from within, blaming the Great Recession on decades of runaway government spending, and flipped House control from Democrats to Republicans in the process. And though the deficit hawks behind this so-called Tea Party never took control of the House or the Senate, their voices were loud — and they harangued President Barack Obama so effectively — that GOP party leaders were forced to take their demands seriously.

Like the Squad in 2018, these congressmen did not rise through the normal party channels. Amash is a prime example.