GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger calls Trump 'one of the weakest men that I've ever seen'

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) tore into former President Donald Trump Monday night, after the ex-president took offense to former President George W. Bush's criticism of domestic terrorism during a 9/11 commeration speech over the weekend.
"I mean, [Trump] proved George W.'s point as quickly and as amazingly as you can," Kinzinger told CNN's John Berman. "To anybody that's still kind of looking at Donald Trump as a standard bearer for the Republican party, this is one of the weakest men that I've ever seen."
On Monday, Trump issued a statement firing back at Bush for likening violent extremism and domestic terrorism to that which originates abroad, while suggesting both to be significant threats to the United States in their own ways. Although Bush did not specify who or what exactly he was referring to, there was speculation he was alluding to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and thus possibly a subsection of Trump supporters.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
And Kinzinger, for his part, did not take Trump's possible defense of Capitol rioters or extremists well. "Somebody with strength is somebody that can take criticism, that can go out on a day like Sept. 11 and bring people together. And, you know, folks on my side like to use the term 'snowflake' when talking about people that get offended really easily — well, that's Donald Trump."
Kinzinger said he "certainly" believes Trump to be weak, for being both easily offended and a fan of punching down. "I mean, he'll attack a radio host, for goodness sakes, when he was president of the United States. That to me, at least how I grew up ... that to me was always weakness."
Watch more below:
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imagination
Feature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?
Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacy
Feature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
Supreme Court: Will it allow Trump’s tariffs?
Feature Justices fast-track Trump’s appeal to see if his sweeping tariffs are unconstitutional
-
Venezuela: Was Trump’s air strike legal?
Feature A Trump-ordered airstrike targeted a speedboat off the coast of Venezuela, killing all 11 passengers on board
-
3 killed in Trump’s second Venezuelan boat strike
Speed Read Legal experts said Trump had no authority to order extrajudicial executions of noncombatants
-
Is Kash Patel’s fate sealed after Kirk shooting missteps?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The FBI’s bungled response in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting has director Kash Patel in the hot seat
-
Russian drone tests Romania as Trump spins
Speed Read Trump is ‘resisting congressional plans to impose newer and tougher penalties on Russia’s energy sector’
-
Trump renews push to fire Cook before Fed meeting
Speed Read The push to remove Cook has ‘quickly become the defining battle in Trump’s effort to take control of the Fed’
-
Will Donald Trump’s second state visit be a diplomatic disaster?
Today's Big Question Charlie Kirk shooting, Saturday’s far-right rally and continued Jeffrey Epstein fallout ramps-up risks of already fraught trip
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-war
Talking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’