Adam Kinzinger brutally sums up “the entire” Republican Party in just 1 acronym
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a frequent critic of Donald Trump following the president-elect’s 2020 election loss, revealed why critics labeled him the acronym “RINO” (which stands for “In Name Only” “Republican”) label is the only one that is “interesting”. “
“The reality is that today the entire Republican Party is a Republican. They are Republicans in name only,” Kinzinger said in an interview with Salon on Saturday.
“They had the Republican title and a lot of them still think they have a legacy, but that’s absolutely right, it’s gone.”
Kinzinger, who is the focus of a new documentary from “Hot Tub Time Machine” director Steve Pinker called “The Last Republicans,” said “what it means to be a Republican now” is “driven by anger and division.” ”.
“I think what they represent is support for the culture war, the anger and one person, one personality, and that’s Donald Trump. Now, they’ll never admit that, but that’s the reality,” he said.
Kinzinger was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and he served on the House committee investigating the insurrection .
He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in last year’s election and declared during a speech at last year’s Democratic National Convention that he “puts our country first.”
In a separate interview with Forbes, Kinzinger said he had built “new alliances” in recent years and realized “he may now be closer to the Democrats because of changes in the Republican Party.”
“The Democratic Party is now the party that defends America’s role in the world, defends Ukraine, and that’s what I’m really passionate about,” Kinzinger said, predicting that Republicans will “raise a glass for now” because Trumpism won’t “get through these. Difficulties”. Four years. “
The former congressman said in an interview with Salon that he believes Trump is “already a lame duck,” before noting that he has a different hold on voters than other presidents, which could end by the end of his second term causing “concerns” among Republicans.
“If you think about George W. Bush toward the end of his second term, Republicans were in decline. That’s not going to happen with Trump,” Kinzinger said.
“All those Republicans who should have quit will still have to face re-election, even though Donald Trump didn’t.”
Kinzinger said he doesn’t think the Republican Party can be “saved in the short term,” but he hopes people don’t “give up.”
“Because the reality is that there will probably only ever be two major parties in this country, and the Republican Party will be one of them. We can either write it off and lose the election, with the consequences we just experienced, or we can continue to fight internally,” he said.
