Tuesday, February 16, 2021
Kinzinger, Trump's new enemy
Eyes in the party, disowned by relatives
From Roland Peters
It's not easy to be an old-school conservative in America these days. The MP Adam Kinzinger experiences this firsthand. He broke away from Trump. His own family therefore sees him in league with the "army of the devil".
Adam Kinzinger has been a member of the US House of Representatives for more than ten years, and with a two-year election cycle that means five re-elections. You'd think that the 42-year-old is politically established and that his family is proud of him. If so, that changed in the wake of the January 6th Congress storm. Because Kinzinger voted after the outbreak of violence with nine other Republicans for an impeachment of the then-President Donald Trump. He also spoke out in favor of removing conspiracy theory supporter and MP Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee positions.
With this, Kinzinger is putting his career on the line – and possibly turning his private life upside down. The Republicans of his state of Illinois have reprimanded him. Part of his family even cast him out. "What a disappointment you are for us and for God," begins a handwritten letter from his cousin to him, signed by eleven relatives. "It is extremely shameful that we are related to you", the two-page letter continues: "You have soiled the family name!"
Kinzinger could be accused of using the publication as a PR stunt. But the letter was already in circulation because his family mailed the January 8 letter not only to him but also to other Illinois Congressmen. "I want him to be avoided," the cousin told the US media. "We call for you to be removed from office," says the letter. The MP joined the "army of the devil" by which the Democrats and mainstream media meant: "It is the greatest sin to ally with a party that believes in abortion and socialism."
Kinzinger himself is sure of his cause. "I have nothing against them," he told the New York Times about the signatories of the letter: "It's 100 percent up to them to come up to me and fix it. But honestly, I don't care if they do that or not. " Family members have been "brainwashed" by conservative churches, he said.
Veneering the base
Politically, Kinzinger has mostly been in line with Trump in recent years, but never emerged as particularly loyal. In fact, according to the US media, the presidency frustrated him. Kinzinger no longer wants to accept unconditional loyalty to Trump as a litmus test of his conservative convictions. So he appears on late night shows and speaks on podcasts about his critical view of the state of Republicans. The MP is not the only one trying to lead his party out of the apparently all-encompassing shadow of the ex-president. But there is still no big movement visibly.
While support for Trump in Washington is crumbling, it remains high in the rural areas where his base lives. A recent poll shows the blindness of the base: two-thirds of Republicans still believe that the election was illegal, according to poll results by the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute. Almost four fifths also think that the political system is unfair to their disadvantage. And nearly 40 percent of them consider political-motivated violence to be a legitimate means of protecting the US in case its leaders don't. 55 percent are of the opinion that the decline of the "American way of life" can also be stopped with violence.
In another poll, 75 percent of Republicans were in favor of Trump continuing to play an influential role in their party. 21 percent are against it. In other words, it is a risky political bet to openly oppose the ex-president like Kinzinger. However, he is convinced that support for Trump will wane.
The MP recently founded the election campaign organization "Country First". The so-called Political Action Committee (PAC) is supposed to help to free the party from conspiracy theories and victimism that currently dominate the Republicans. "We're just afraid. Afraid of the Democrats. Afraid of the future. Afraid of everything," he was quoted by the New York Times. The party is sick. Should Trump supporters consolidate their majority, he can envision a change of party. "But first I'll fight to save her."
. (tagsToTranslate) Republican (t) USA (t) Donald Trump