“we traffic in conspiracies and we traffic in lies”
“The biggest danger right now is that we’ve become a party that dabbles — not just dabbles — we traffic in conspiracies and we traffic in lies,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who on Sunday plans to release a video and website, country1st.com, to start the campaign.
Kinzinger, one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump earlier this month, has been one of the few GOP lawmakers willing to speak out against the former president’s actions. The campaign effort positions him alongside Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as one of the leaders of a wing of the party seeking to distance itself from Trump.
“Republicans must say enough is enough. It’s time to unplug the outrage machine, reject the politics of personality, and cast aside the conspiracy theories and rage. It’s time to turn back from the edge of darkness and return to the ideals that have long been our guiding light,” he said in the recorded video. “It’s now or never. The choice is ours. I’ve made mine, and I hope every Republican, and every American who shares our values, will choose to join me. Let’s take back our party.”
Kinzinger said in the days after the assault on the Capitol he felt some optimism as McCarthy said Trump “bears responsibility” for encouraging the rioting mob to attack Congress and target then-Vice President Mike Pence. McCarthy quickly backed away from that remark and on Thursday he praised the ex-president after a meeting at his Palm Beach resort.
“That’s a heck of a move in about three weeks. It’s hard to square that circle,” Kinzinger told reporters Saturday. He suggested that McCarthy is not even the most powerful member of the GOP caucus anymore, but that it was Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) “for sure” now.
Jordan was an outcast just a few years ago who banded together with about 30 other far-right conservatives and, after forging a strong alliance with Trump, has soared to vast power over McCarthy’s leadership team while making alliances with figures like Taylor Greene while trying to expel Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) from the leadership team because she voted to impeach Trump.
Kinzinger said Jordan and his colleagues are ‘political terrorists’.
Kinzinger was elected in 2010 as part of the Tea Party class.
