Kinzinger launches new organization to fight Trump Republicans
(The Center Square) — An Illinois Republican who has taken heat from members of his party and family over his opposition to President Donald Trump is starting a new organization that he says will take his party back from the former president’s supporters.
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Illinois, announced the formation of “Country First,” a new organization that he says will help Republicans find their way from “poisonous conspiracies and lies” that he says have become the guiding mantra of Trump-led Republicans.
“Our country’s future is truly unlimited,” Kinzinger is quoted on the new website. “After all, we are the party that ended slavery, secured women’s suffrage, and won the war against communist tyranny. Now we must be the party that lifts up the rural town and the inner city. We must be the party that empowers every student to soar and every family to thrive.”
The Channahon Republican’s opposition to Trump – he was one of ten GOP House members to vote for impeachment last month – has put him in the national spotlight.
“Let’s take a look at the last four years, how far we’ve come in a bad way,” Kinzinger said Sunday in an interview with Chuck Todd on MSNBC. “That’s not the party I signed up for and I think most Republicans didn’t sign up for that. Yes, it’s a tough position to be in but it’s really invigorating to remember what you’re standing for and then talk about putting the country over party.”
The organization is funded by the Future First Leadership PAC, which is run by Kinzinger.
The congressman’s criticism of Trump has led to calls for censure in Illinois. He told Todd, who is also a central Illinois native, that those calls amount to “cancel culture” in the GOP.
Kinzinger’s opposition to Trump is relatively new. He voted for most of the president’s agenda, but became more vocal as Trump and his supporters began questioning the results of the 2020 General Election and came to a head with the Jan. 6 insurrection of the Capitol that led Kinzinger to call for Trump’s removal.
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