Tucker Carlson Is a 'Manipulative Son of a Bitch' -- and Other Thoughts from Adam Kinzinger

[Zorro]

The outgoing Republican lawmaker gets candid about what he was ready to do Jan. 6, his next election, and whether Republicans will pay a price for their addiction to Donald Trump

Adam Kinzinger is the kind of Republican that Democrats say we need in Congress to put American politics on a more even keel.

Throughout Donald Trump’s rise to power, Kinzinger, a 43-year-old Republican representative from Illinois, grew more wary of the president’s willingness to stay inside the boundaries of his executive authority and more convinced that Trump would try to dismantle democratic institutions that got in his way. Kinzinger was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” and he’s one of only two Republicans, along with Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, sitting on the House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

But while Democrats say they want a Republican like Kinzinger, when presented with a real-life example, it becomes clear that a lot of them don’t really mean it. Democrats in Illinois redrew Kinzinger’s district on unfavorable terms and essentially ended his career in the House. “I think that what it says to people is that you want Republican allies in the defense of democracy until it’s politically advantageous to not,” Kinzinger says.

Kinzinger announced last month he won’t run again, another setback for a politician who was once seen as destined for bigger things. A veteran of the Iraq War, a principled and cleareyed conservative who avoided the kind of culture-wars talk that had become increasingly prevalent on Fox News and Facebook, Kinzinger was frequently the subject of presidential chatter.

That is, until he started opposing former President Donald Trump. As he (mildly) puts it, he is now “persona non grata,” censured by his party and shunned by some members of his own family.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/adam-kinzinger-tucker-carlson-january6-trump-insurrection-1254648/

[Phoenix61]

1. Illinois had a Dem trifecta in 2010 just as it does now.

Illinois lost a congressional seat so someone automatically wasn’t getting re-elected and whining that the Dems did it to him is just that, whining. Then there’s this ”…because while I have massive disagreements with what Pence did, with the exception of Jan. 6, he’s a decent human being.“ What, exactly, does one have to do for him to think you’re not a decent human being?

[lees1975]

2. It's doubtful that Kinzinger would have been re-elected in his former district

It had a relatively large Republican majority, many of them Trumpies who buy into conspiracy theories and bow at the feet of the orange headed buffoon. Kinzinger would likely be primaried out by a Trumpie anyway.

Kinzinger is a Republican, not a Trumpie and there's a difference that the mainstream media may not recognize yet, but it's true. We're talking two different parties. Kinzinger's presence on the select committee makes it bi-partisan, even though no Trumpies are on it, and gives it legitimacy.

If not for all the Trumpie idiocy, and Kinzinger were running in my district against a liberal democrat, I wouldn't vote for him. His anti-Trump stance is a factor I would consider, though, at this point.