Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois is no ally of the Trump-era GOP. A proud Never Trumper dead set on insulting his congressional Republican colleagues and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Kinzinger uses tactics deployed by Democrats such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to gnaw at his own party from the inside out.
Not only is Kinzinger willing to partner with the corporate media to deliver Democrat talking points about the Jan. 6 riot, election integrity, and regular Trump-bashing, but he also uses Pelosi’s rhetoric to accomplish his political goals.
As Axios notes, Pelosi often employs pettiness such as ripping up the State of the Union address and forgetting the names of Republican legislators. More recently, she launched an aggressive email campaign targeting McCarthy for gearing up to oust anti-Trump Republican Rep. Liz Cheney from leadership.
Kinzinger has a history of using some of the same language outlined in many of Pelosi’s opposition research emails to denounce the vote to remove Cheney. One of his more recent defenses of the Wyoming representative sounds eerily similar to Pelosi’s email, which was headlined “McCarthy’s Rules: Punishing Truth, Rewarding Lies, Embracing Extremism & Bigotry.”
“Seems like that should be told to the former president? Nah, cancel Liz since she tells the truth and makes us uncomfortable. After all the insurrection was a WHOLE four months ago!! /sarcasm,” Kinzinger wrote on Twitter on Monday.
Seems like that should be told to the former president? Nah, cancel Liz since she tells the truth and makes us uncomfortable. After all the insurrection was a WHOLE four months ago!! /sarcasm https://t.co/8qV2cfVlU9
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) May 10, 2021
Good morning! Has anyone heard whether or not @GOPLeader Kevin McCarthy or Steve Scalise talked with Officer Mike Fanone or watched his interview yet? If you’re gonna throw out the truth and defend the insurrectionist former president, maybe talk to all the witnesses?
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) May 11, 2021
https://t.co/4RltPU0cwl pic.twitter.com/DUlX0hwH7R
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) May 10, 2021
Kinzinger is not just concerned with keeping Cheney around. He also takes pride in continuing to target the former president and cast doubts about the GOP’s future.
“We’re in the middle of this slow sink. We have a band playing on the deck, telling everybody it’s fine, and meanwhile, Donald Trump’s running around, trying to find women’s clothing and get on the first lifeboat,” Kinzinger said on “Face The Nation” this week.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) likens GOP to “Titanic”: “We’re in the middle of this slow sink. We have a band playing on the deck, telling everybody it’s fine, and meanwhile Donald Trump’s running around, trying to find women’s clothing and get on the first lifeboat.” pic.twitter.com/L7Wjy87ngV
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 9, 2021
Conservative is no longer conservative. It’s all about unquestioning loyalty https://t.co/vAvXZ5B0VE
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) May 5, 2021
Kinzinger regularly calls Republicans liars but hasn’t acknowledged his inability to walk back the Jan. 6 falsehoods and narratives created by Democrats and corporate media about Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick’s death that he amplified.
Very proud of you. Taking back the narrative from liars isn’t easy but it’s a fight worth having, and we will win. https://t.co/kiV2J5Eu64
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) May 3, 2021
Sofia and I are heartbroken by the loss of US Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick who was tragically killed by the insurrection on the Capitol. This is incredibly tragic, needless, and stems from lying leaders.
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) January 8, 2021
Today, we honor the service and sacrifice of Officer Brian Sicknick. He fought bravely in the face of pure evil, giving his life to defend our democracy from a ruthless mob. He protected our freedoms & saved countless lives–we as a nation owe him an immense debt of gratitude. pic.twitter.com/73DRRylzGD
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) February 3, 2021
In addition to his long list of publicly-aired complaints against his own party and its leadership, Kinzinger’s tweet explaining why he “confidently” voted for the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump and how the “violent insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol influenced his decision is proudly pinned to the top of his Twitter profile.
It was a sobering moment to vote in support of impeachment today; to walk over to the U.S. Capitol, our symbol of democracy, and recall the violent insurrection we witnessed here just one week ago. This is not a vote I took lightly, but a vote I took confidently. I'm at peace.
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) January 13, 2021
Kinzinger may be trying to copy Pelosi’s strategy to undermine Republicans, but his tactics aren’t working. Just last week, his preferred Republican congressional candidate Michael Wood placed ninth in the special election for Texas’s 6th Congressional District. He also received heat when he used his ties to the corporate media to “sell out” his family and promote his new PAC.