WASHINGTON — Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., one of 10 Republicans to vote to impeach former President Donald Trump this month, has launched a new political action committee that is designed to become a financial engine to challenge the former president’s wing of the GOP caucus and stand up against a leadership team still aligned with him.

Kinzinger, 42, a onetime star of the 2010 tea party class, said the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol served as a breaking point for the direction of the Republican Party, providing a stark divide between those who want to continue a path toward autocracy and those who want to return to traditional conservative values.

In an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Kinzinger formally unveiled his Country 1st PAC and a six-minute campaign-style video launching what he hopes will become a movement.

“The reality is this: This is a time to choose. … And my goal in launching Country1st.com is just to say, ‘Look, let’s take a look at the last four years, how far we have come in a bad way, how backward-looking we are, how much we peddle darkness and division,’ ” Kinzinger said on the program. “And that’s not the party I ever signed up for. And I think most Republicans didn’t sign up for that.”

Kinzinger previewed the launch in a Saturday interview with a small group of reporters on a Zoom call, alternating between criticizing freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., whose promotion of QAnon – a sprawling set of false claims that have coalesced into an extremist ideology that has radicalized its followers and incited violence and criminal acts, and that the FBI has designated it a domestic terrorism threat – has drawn great attention in recent days, and being dismissive toward what he views as the weak leadership of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

“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 the rage,” Kinzinger says in the launch video.

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In the days after the assault on the Capitol, Kinzinger said, he felt some optimism as McCarthy said Trump “bears responsibility” for encouraging the rioting mob to attack Congress and target 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, Fla., resort.

“That’s a heck of a move in about three weeks. It’s hard to square that circle,” Kinzinger told reporters Saturday.

Kinzinger also suggested that McCarthy is not the most powerful member of the Republican caucus anymore, but that it was Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, “for sure” now.

Jordan was an outcast 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 members such as Greene while trying to expel Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., from the leadership team because she voted to impeach Trump.

“They’re political terrorists,” Kinzinger said of Jordan and his allies.

McCarthy’s and Jordan’s embrace of Trump is more in line, however, with the majority of the Republican. Earlier this week, 45 Republican senators – including some who had tied Trump’s actions to the Capitol insurrection – voted to dismiss Trump’s impeachment trial as unconstitutional, rendering his conviction unlikely. The trial is slated to start Feb. 9.

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Kinzinger had been slated to appear on “Meet the Press” with other GOP members of Congress who had voted to impeach Trump, host Chuck Todd noted, but the Illinois congressman wound up speaking alone.

“It’s really difficult. All the sudden, imagine that everybody who supported you … has turned against you,” Kinzinger told Todd, adding that he has received certified letters from relatives disowning him and claiming that he is “possessed by the devil.”

He called Wednesday’s formal meeting of the House Republican Conference – during which Republicans will debate Cheney’s status and discuss whether to punish Greene for her actions – “the opening salvo in the fight for the party.”

In particular, Greene – who was elected in November and who has a history of making racist and anti-Semitic remarks – has emerged as one of the most incendiary members of Congress since she took office. She also has tied herself inextricably to Trump, meaning that any Republicans who rebuke her could risk angering him and the party.

In numerous social media posts, Greene has parroted false claims that deadly school shootings were staged, and she has endorsed political violence against Democratic leaders. On Friday, a major Jewish nonprofit group condemned Greene for supporting an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that space lasers caused California’s Camp Fire, the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history.

That day, Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., said she was moving her congressional offices away from Greene for the safety of her staff, after saying Greene had accosted her in the hallway without a mask. In response, Greene called Bush a liar and the leader of a “terrorist mob” for supporting Black Lives Matter.

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Although many Democrats have called for Greene to be expelled from Congress – or at least censured – she has faced no repercussions for her rhetoric or behavior. Last week, GOP leaders appointed her to the House Education Committee, prompting a fresh round of protest and calls for her removal.

On Sunday, several Republicans spoke out against Greene, but stopped short of saying she was unfit to serve. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who recently announced that he will retire, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Greene is removed from her committee assignments.

“I think Republican leaders ought to stand up and say it is totally unacceptable what she has said,” Portman said. “The voters who elected her in her district in Georgia ought to be respected. On the other hand when that kind of behavior occurs, there has to be a strong response.”

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, also couched his criticism of Greene by saying the voters should decide whether she should serve in Congress – and cautiously warned his colleagues not to allow the GOP to crumble because of Trumpism.

“President Trump has helped build the party,” Hutchinson said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “I hope he does not help to destroy the party in the coming four years. We need to have a level of accountability. We also need to make sure that we don’t tear ourselves apart.”

Hutchinson is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. Trump’s former press secretary Sarah Sanders announced last week that she would be running for governor of Arkansas.

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There has been little benefit for Republicans who have rebuked Trump. Several of the 10 Republican members of Congress who voted to impeach Trump have faced censure – or the threat of it – by their state or county party officials.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Sunday dismissed efforts by fellow Republicans in his state to censure him and former senator Jeff Flake, as well as Cindy McCain, wife of the late Sen. John McCain, for criticizing Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results. Arizona was among those states the Trump falsely claimed he had won.

“The state party chairman should focus on winning races,” Ducey said on “State of the Union,” responding to one of his most prominent critics.

Ducey was more equivocal on whether congressional Republicans should punish lawmakers who espouse false claims. He said House Republicans would have to address Greene’s behavior, but he tried to suggest that Democrats were also guilty of promoting baseless theories – though he did not name any – and that he was reluctant to clamp down even on lawmakers who are spreading falsehoods.

“I’m not for this cancel culture,” Ducey said. “I don’t think we should limit speech.”

Kinzinger said he does not want to play a leading role in the GOP and has no ambition to run for higher office, but he said too many Republicans were remaining quiet and hoping Trumpism will fade away without fully confronting it.

He said his push is not really around ideology so much as it was focused on driving the conspiracy theorists and racists out of the GOP.

“We don’t embrace conspiracy theories to win anymore,” he said. “Would we lose the Proud Boys? Maybe. I’m fine with that.”


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