* AP…
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump, is launching a political action committee to push back against a House GOP leadership team and party that he says have become too closely aligned to the former president.
The “Country 1st” PAC, unveiled in a six-minute video released Sunday, will challenge the current direction of a GOP that Kinzinger says has wrongly become a “Trump-first party” to the detriment of the nation, as seen by the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.
The Illinois congressman cited most Republicans’ seeming unwillingness to hold Trump accountable for his role in encouraging the violent protests, as well as the party’s support of lawmakers such as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has drawn criticism for past social media posts reported by various news organizations in which she’s suggested support for killing Democratic politicians, unfounded QAnon theories and racist views.
The goal of the PAC is to say, “Let’s take a look at the last four years, how far we have come in a bad way,” Kinzinger said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “How backward-looking we are, how much we peddle darkness and division. And that’s not the party I ever signed up for. And I think most Republicans didn’t sign up for that.”
The video is here. Music is too loud, but it’s an interesting approach. We’ve seen much of what he’s warning about here in Illinois, particularly during the pandemic…
“The party that always spoke about a brighter tomorrow no longer does. It talks about a dark future instead. Hope has given way to fear. Outrage has replaced opportunity. And worst of all, our deep convictions are ignored. They’ve been replaced by poisonous conspiracies and lies. This is not the Republican road and now we know exactly where new and dangerous road leads. It leads to insurrection and an armed attack on the Capitol,” he argued.
* But he has his work cut out for him…
Former President Donald Trump amassed $31.2 million in his new political operation by the end of 2020, giving him a powerful tool to keep the Republican Party in his grip as he left office.
Save America, a leadership PAC created in the aftermath of the 2020 election, is set to play a key role in Trump’s plans to keep a strong hand in party politics — both to boost loyalists and also to seek retribution against Republicans he believes have wronged him, such as the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in mid-January. Trump cannot spend the PAC funds directly on any future campaign of his own, but he can use it to wield influence in campaigns in the midterm elections, pay his political advisers and travel the country.
I guess we’ll see soon enough if Kinzinger’s new PAC is more about publicity or actually raising the kind of money he’ll need to counter the former POTUS.
* Kinzinger continues to turn the GOP’s rhetoric around on itself. He called Marjorie Taylor Greene a “RINO” and then used the “cancel culture” lingo on Matt Gaetz…
Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) going to Wyoming to campaign against Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) for voting to impeach former President Donald Trump was “totally GOP cancel culture.”
Anchor Chuck Todd said, “I’m curious, is there just no room for disagreement in the Republican Party when it comes to Donald Trump? This is to me, a form of cancel culture, is it not?”
Kinzinger said, “It is totally. If you look at Matt Gaetz going to Wyoming because a tough woman has an independent view, and he doesn’t want to explain why he voted for impeachment, that’s totally GOP cancel culture. I think what a significant part of the base wants, we can have a diverse opinion. Peter Meijer from Michigan, good friend of mine, he and I are on other ends of the spectrum on things like foreign policy, but I respect his view. That’s what the Republican Party needs to be, the optimistic party in the future. We need to quit being the party that supports an insurrection, a dead police officer, and other dead Americans on the Capitol. There’s no equivalency to that. We have to run from that as fast as we can.”
…Adding… Maybe he could add this to his repertoire…
* Meanwhile, in Politico…
Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Sunday offered a glimpse of what it’s like being one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump: Friends and family turned against him, and he was told he’s “possessed by the devil.”
“Look it’s really difficult. I mean, all of a sudden imagine everybody that supported you, or so it seems that way, your friends, your family, has turned against you. They think you’re selling out,” the Illinois congressman said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I’ve gotten a letter, a certified letter, twice from the same people, disowning me and claiming I’m possessed by the devil.”
That appears to be a bit of an embellishment. Here’s what he told the Sun-Times a couple of weeks ago…
“I’ve heard from friends that don’t want to be friends with me anymore. … I’ve had family members who are somewhat distant relatives sign a petition disowning me,” citing “Bible verses and that I was part of the devil’s army”.
