Adam Kinzinger would 'love' to primary Trump, 'even if he crushed me'
Retiring Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) is exhausted — "I wouldn't mind having a break," he recently told HuffPost — but that doesn't mean he's putting any and all political ambitions aside.
Case in point: the vocal critic of former President Donald Trump and Jan. 6 committee member has yet to rule out a run for president.
"So, I look at it this way," Kinzinger told HuffPost: "I'll make a decision when we get there, if there's a need and a desire. It's truly not anything I'm planning right now, but I'm not going to rule it out."
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.
"Look, if we're in a position, if it's just terrible candidates and the country's in a worse place? Maybe. But there's no grand plan right now," he added.
It seems that approach could change, however, should Trump run for president in 2024, as is expected. In fact, Kinzinger said he would "love" to challenge the former president in a primary.
"I would love it. I really would," Kinzinger said of running against Trump. "Even if he crushed me, like in a primary, to be able to stand up and call out the garbage is just a necessary thing, regardless of who it is. ... I think it'd be fun."
But in the meantime, the lawmaker is just happy to get out of Congress, he told HuffPost.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
"I'm exhausted of the same arguments, the same kind of performative politics," he said. "Maybe I would have run for governor. Maybe I would have run for Senate. Who knows? But yeah, my time in the House is, mercifully, coming to an end." Read more at HuffPost.
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.
-
The best homes of the yearFeature Featuring a former helicopter engine repair workshop in Washington, D.C. and high-rise living in San Francisco
-
Critics’ choice: The year’s top 10 moviesFeature ‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘It Was Just an Accident’ stand out
-
The small Caribbean island courting crypto billionsUnder the Radar Crypto mogul Olivier Janssens plans to create a libertarian utopia on Nevis
-
What Nick Fuentes and the Groypers wantThe Explainer White supremacism has a new face in the US: a clean-cut 27-year-old with a vast social media following
-
Trump HHS moves to end care for trans youthSpeed Read The administration is making sweeping proposals that would eliminate gender-affirming care for Americans under age 18
-
Why does Trump want to reclassify marijuana?Today's Big Question Nearly two-thirds of Americans want legalization
-
Jack Smith tells House of ‘proof’ of Trump’s crimesSpeed Read President Donald Trump ‘engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election,’ hoarded classified documents and ‘repeatedly tried to obstruct justice’
-
House GOP revolt forces vote on ACA subsidiesSpeed Read The new health care bill would lower some costs but not extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
-
Why does White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles have MAGA in a panic?TODAY’S BIG QUESTION Trump’s all-powerful gatekeeper is at the center of a MAGA firestorm that could shift the trajectory of the administration
-
Hegseth rejects release of full boat strike footageSpeed Read There are calls to release video of the military killing two survivors of a Sept. 2 missile strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat
-
‘It’s another clarifying moment in our age of moral collapse’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
