Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said on Tuesday that some people “equate Donald Trump with the person of Jesus Christ” in their hearts.
“To them, if you even come against this amazing man, Donald Trump, which obviously quite flawed, you are coming out against Jesus, against their Christian values,” he told MSNBC’s Alex Wagner. “And when you go after their religion, that violates the depth of who they are.”
Kinzinger made the remark in response to a question Wagner asked him about criticism he has received from his own family members in relation to opposing former President Trump.
The congressman, who is one of Trump’s fiercest critics in the GOP, received a letter signed by 11 members of his family after he called for Trump to be removed from office through the 25th Amendment to the Constitution in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
The letter says that Kinzinger is a “disappointment to us and to God.” The family members said they were once proud of his accomplishments, but he has gone against his “Christian principles” and joined the “devil’s army,” which they identify as Democrats and the “fake news media.”
Kinzinger told Wagner that people fear being kicked out of their own tribe, and Republicanism or Trumpism has become people’s identity. He said many pastors in the country are “failing” their congregations through refusing to talk about how “corrosive” Trumpism is.
“I’ve been kicked out of my tribe, and that’s OK,” Kinzinger said.
Kinzinger has become largely isolated from most of the rest of his party as he has served on the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack. Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), the other Republican serving on the committee, has also been denounced by many in her party, and she lost her primary race for Wyoming’s at-large House seat to a Trump-backed candidate on Tuesday.
Kinzinger told WGN-TV, which is owned by Nexstar Media Group like The Hill is, in an interview last week that Trump has won the battle for the soul of the party, at least in the short term.
Kinzinger chose not to run for reelection.