Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who has become a vocal opponent of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and who sat on the House Jan. 6 Committee, implored members of his party to “put country first” by voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.
One of several Republicans who took to the DNC stage this week to warn of a second Trump term, Kinzinger told the crowd that he was “proud to be in the trenches with you as part of this sometimes awkward alliance we have to defend truth [and] defend democracy and decency.”
Kinzinger confirmed that after his 12 years in Congress as a Republican, he still is one—but recent events have led him to a realization.
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“I have learned something about the Democratic Party, and I want to let my fellow Republicans in on the secret: The Democrats are as patriotic as us. They love this country just as much as we do. And they are as eager to defend American values at home and abroad as we conservatives have ever been,” said Kinzinger, who then lamented how the GOP “is no longer conservative.”
“It has switched its allegiance from the principles that gave it purpose to a man whose only purpose is himself,” Kinzinger said. “Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong. He is a small man pretending to be big. He is a faithless man pretending to be righteous. He’s a perpetrator who can’t stop playing the victim.” He added that Trump’s status as head of the Republican Party for the last nine years has ultimately “suffocated” its “soul.”
“Some have questioned why I have taken the stand I have. The answer is really simple, ladies and gentlemen: We must put country first,” Kinzinger concluded emphatically.
“I know Kamala Harris shares my allegiance to the role of law, the Constitution, and democracy and she is dedicated to upholding all three in service to her country. Whatever policies we disagree on pales in comparison to those fundamental matters of principle, of decency, and of fidelity to this nation.”
