Adam Kinzinger Was Wrong When He Said "This Is Not The Party I Joined." It Very Much Is.

Adam Kinzinger is a conservative Republican representing a safety red exurban/rural Illinois district that wraps around Chicago... from a distance. He's widely considered to be a potential nominee for statewide office, either governor (most likely) or senator. He was one of 10 GOP House members to have voted for impeachment, probably the most enthusiastically so of the bunch. This morning, Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Kinzinger launched a new leadership PAC that is designed to become a financial engine to challenge Trumpists in the GOP, part of "a 'movement' to reclaim the Republican Party from conspiracy theorists and the forces leading to the Capitol attack and to provide a counter to ex-President Donald Trump, who is retaining his grip on the GOP. 'This is no time for silence. Not after the last month. Not after the past few years. Someone needs to tell the truth. Someone needs to say what history needs to hear. So here I am. The Republican Party has lost its way,' Kinzinger said in a 6 minute video posted Sunday kicking off his 'Country First' drive."

Sweet wrote that "Kinzinger has emerged as the only House Republican denouncing conspiracy theories, spotlighting the corrosive lies QAnon spreads and calling out the baseless claims Trump trafficked in during his presidency. He is also one of the 10 Republicans who voted with Democrats to impeach Trump a second time. He is also the sole House Republican who backs punishing freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)-- the QAnon conspiracy booster-- in the wake of her supporting on-line threats to execute Democrats, spreading anti-Semitic tropes and pushing baseless claims about staged school shootings." He keeps calling her a RINO, which is what the extremists call him.

Kinzinger said he did not tell GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in advance about his move and is braced for blowback from other Republicans. He said he will address his colleagues about his “movement” when House Republicans meet Wednesday.

That meeting now has three sizzling matters on the agenda: Whether to remove Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) from her leadership post in Trump-fueled retaliation for her impeachment vote; what, if anything to do about Greene and Kinzinger’s call to rid the party of fringe elements.

McCarthy, after at first chastising Trump over the Capitol attack, met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday and said Trump pledged to help elect Republicans to Congress in 2022. Greene said in a Saturday Tweet she had a “great” call with Trump.

Kinzinger said the Wednesday House GOP member meeting will probably be “the opening salvo in the fight for the party. Are we going to be a party of dark conspiracies, of lies or are we going to be a party of optimism and hope?”

Kinzinger said he is not concerned about his political future or if his “Country First” move results in a censure from Illinois or national Republicans.

Said Kinzinger, “if they try to take action against me and not somebody like Marjorie Taylor Greene, well, that will be pretty telling.”

Click on the graphic and you'll be able to watch the video:

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported how the Trump coup attempt was financed "by a small group including a top Trump campaign fundraiser and donor facilitated by far-right show host Alex Jones." Jones kicked in $50,000 of his own as "seed money" and then lured in Julie Jenkins Fancelli, "a prominent donor to the Trump campaign and heiress to the Publix Super Markets Inc. chain, to commit about $300,000." Others involved with organizing the event were Ali Alexander and Caroline Wren, althorn none of these people-- who, like Trump, were careful to keep away from the Capitol itself-- have been arrested yet.

The Journal emphasized that "On social media, Mr. Alexander had targeted Jan. 6 as a key date for supporters to gather in Washington to contest the 2020-election certification results. The week of the rally, he tweeted a flyer for the event saying: 'DC becomes FORT TRUMP starting tomorrow on my orders!' ... [The Trump rally] served as a jumping-off point for many supporters to head to the Capitol. Mr. Trump has been impeached by the Democrat-led House of Representatives, accused of inciting a mob to storm the Capitol with remarks urging supporters to 'fight like hell.' Messrs. Jones and Alexander had been active in the weeks before the event, calling on supporters to oppose the election results and go to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Mr. Alexander, for instance, tweeted on Dec. 30 about the scheduled Jan. 6 count for lawmakers to certify the Electoral College vote at the Capitol, writing: 'If they do this, everyone can guess what me and 500,000 others will do to that building.'"

They don't have to guess anymore, do they? The only guesswork is why the FBI hasn't arrested Jones, Alexander, Wren and the Publix supermarket heiress yet.