During an appearance on ABC’s This Week on Sunday morning, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) denounced leaders within the Republican Party for their continued capitulation to former President Donald Trump. Kinzinger is one of the only prominent Republicans in Congress who have been willing to go against the Trump line on just about anything, but he recently announced that he would not be seeking re-election. Besides the possibility of a formidable primary challenge from a pro-Trump Republican, redistricting in Illinois seems poised to make winning general elections as a Republican in his district significantly more difficult. Kinzinger, though, is not done fighting.
Asked if his decision to not seek re-election entailed the provision of “another win” to Trump, Kinzinger credited the Republican leaders propping Trump up for his continued relevance. Tying themselves to Trump allows for an easy inroad with his base, and that often seems like just about all that’s top-of-mind for them — power. When was the last time that a Republican leader even came out with a new policy proposal to help Americans at the federal level anywhere near the scope of what Democrats have put forward?
Serious Q: when was the last time you heard a top Republican – or *any* Republican – talking in any detail about how to fix healthcare in this country? Fix student debt? Fix the housing crisis?
It's just Fox-inspired culture wars, day in, day out.
Shameful (and pathetic) stuff.
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) October 29, 2021
On ABC, Kinzinger commented as follows when asked about whether Trump got a “win” thanks to his approaching departure from Congress:
‘Potentially. But I don’t think it was my decision that would hand Donald Trump a win. I think it’s the situation we find ourselves in. Here’s an interesting thing: Donald Trump [puts out a statement]. That’s about the only ink he gets from that. He’s kind of just tweeting, or press release-ing, from Mar-a-Lago, but I actually think what’s going on here is — if he runs in 2024, he’ll be the front-runner, no doubt. But I think the Republican establishment now — whether it’s the NRCC, whether it’s Kevin McCarthy — have held onto Donald Trump. They have continued to breathe life into him. And so actually, it’s not really handing a win as much to Donald Trump as it is to the cancerous, lie and conspiracy[-driven]… mainstream argument of the Republican Party… It’s not on Liz Cheney and I to save the Republican Party.’
Check out Kinzinger’s weekend remarks below:
Asked by @GStephanopoulos if leaving Congress is handing a "win" to former Pres. Trump, @RepKinzinger slams Republican establishment for continuing to “breathe life" into Trump.
“It's not on Liz Cheney and I to save the Republican Party.” https://t.co/m1EXzEtgku pic.twitter.com/GQJwPOtAyV
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 31, 2021
For now, Kinzinger is serving as one of two Republicans on the House committee investigating the Capitol riot. That committee is continuing its work to uncover the exact circumstances surrounding the riot. Recently, the committee and full House approved a finding of contempt against top Trump ally Steve Bannon after he defied a subpoena from the panel, referring the matter to the Justice Department for his potential prosecution.
