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."
Subscribe to 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.
"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.
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.
-
Zohran Mamdani: the young progressive likely to be New York City's next mayor
In The Spotlight The policies and experience that led to his meteoric rise
-
The best film reboots of all time
The Week Recommends Creativity and imagination are often required to breathe fresh life into old material
-
'More must be done'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The last words and final moments of 40 presidents
The Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
-
Senate advances GOP bill that costs more, cuts more
Speed Read The bill would make giant cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, leaving 11.8 million fewer people with health coverage
-
Trump's strikes on Iran: a 'spectacular success'?
In Depth Military humiliations 'expose the brittleness' of Tehran's ageing regime, but risk reinforcing its commitment to its nuclear program
-
Will NATO countries meet their new spending goal?
today's big question The cost of keeping Trump happy
-
Canadian man dies in ICE custody
Speed Read A Canadian citizen with permanent US residency died at a federal detention center in Miami
-
GOP races to revise megabill after Senate rulings
Speed Read A Senate parliamentarian ruled that several changes to Medicaid included in Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" were not permissible
-
Supreme Court lets states ax Planned Parenthood funds
Speed Read The court ruled that Planned Parenthood cannot sue South Carolina over the state's effort to deny it funding
-
Trump plans Iran talks, insists nuke threat gone
Speed Read 'The war is done' and 'we destroyed the nuclear,' said President Trump