GOP House member who voted to impeach Trump says his family sent around a signed petition disowning him for crossing the former president
Rep. Adam Kinzinger is a rare moral Republican who voted to impeach Trump.
It hasn't been a popular move within his party or among his constituents.
But in a new interview with Insider's Anthony Fisher, Kinzinger says members of his own family circulated a petition disowning him.
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Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois is one of just ten Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the insurrectionist mob that attack the US Capitol on January 6. The lawmaker, who has been in Congress since 2013, tried to warn the GOP of the pernicious influence of the QAnon conspiracy theory, many months before Trump supporters stormed the building.
In response to his impeachment vote, Kinzinger has faced a wave of vitriol from the pro-Trump corners of his party. He's been called a "RINO" - or "Republican In Name Only" - received death threats, and is almost certain to face a Trump-supporting primary challenger for his House seat in 2022.
But the backlash isn't just among the public and other lawmakers. In a new interview with Insider opinion columnist Anthony Fisher, Kinzinger says members of his own family have turned on him due to his vote:
"My dad's cousins sent me a petition - a certified letter - saying they disowned me because I'm in 'the devil's army' now," Kinzinger said in a phone conversation on Thursday. "It's been crazy, when you have friends - that you thought were good friends that would love you no matter what - that don't."
In the interview, Kinzinger also talked about how he had a bad feeling there would be violence at the Capitol on January 6, so much so that he brought his gun to his office.
He also talked about the bond he shares with the other nine Republicans who voted to impeach, how he tries to convince Trump supporters that his vote was an act of conscience, and why he's not the least bit worried about losing his seat in Congress.
Read the full interview here.
Read the original article on Business Insider
ReplyDeleteAdam,
It is sad to see that your family abandoned you because you showed integrity. I can relate. My family sucks too and as time goes by all the red flags I ignored about them things I let slide kept popping up. The only decent one of the bunch was my father who loved everyone uncontitionally. Both my sister and brother are delusional fact denying Trumpers. Facts mean nothing to them. I've written them off. Even before this Trumpism they were pretty much shits. One brother was a pedophile he died while in custody of federal marshals, the other is a fake Christian, cheater, hypocrite and liar. My sister is a drunk and a crazy maker. As kids we were raised to be moral and good citizens. I don't think their depravity is a product of nurture but rather a product of nature. That was a bitter pill for me to swallow.
The fact of the matter is, without me even realizing it, they had disowned me. My wife remained silent until I started saying stuff to her about them. They had no interest in me or what I was doing because I never did anything all that note worthy that they could brag about. In my 30 years as a musican only my sister ever bothered to come to any of my gigs and that was because of the booze.
Being treated poorly and being a second thought all your life become normal. The never took the time to come to my sporting events or school plays. Not even my parents would show and the funny thing is, at the time I thought that was normal.
I only have one bood relative who's gives a crap and that's my cousin. I feel like an orphan in many ways since recovering from being naive.
It will always hurt but that's the luck of the genetic draw.
Adam, you will be remembered by history as a man of integrity and the people closest to me will remember me as a man of integrity.
If you think about it, we are all brothers and sisters. Some brothers are Abel and some are Cain. We got the Cains.
I have to agree with Hillary's deplorable assessment and it especially rings true when you consider how in 2016 the GOP base rejected qualified and more people such as John Kasich and George Pataki and went for Cruz and Trump. In 2020 74 million of them voted for Trump in spite of knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt what an evil and deranged creature Trump is.
I am through blaming Fox News for the post truth era and the brainwashing of the GOP base. I have been interacting with righties on polical forums for years and in my experience most of them are bald faced liars and amoral and immoral. I believe that the reason Trump appealed to them is because Trump, a crook, a cheater, a con man, racist, a pussy grabber, a liar, a whore fucker and grifter is everything they wish they aspire to be.
Think about the character of people who would disown you for your respect for the rule of law and your patriotism.
Please show them this.