(Another installment of the Transcript Project at CofA Blog, documenting our strange times in print)
Part 1: Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Trump's cult-level control over the Republican Party
Stephen: My guest tonight is a former congressman from Illinois who served on the house select committee to investigate January 6th and is now a senior political commentator for CNN. Please welcome back to the late show, congressman Adam Kinzinger. [cheers and applause]
Here we are once again.
Mr. Kinzinger: not much is going on.
Stephen: nope. Always nice to have you on to have the
perspective of a congressman who was a member of the Republican Party that I Remember,
before Donald Trump. On Saturday, there was an assassination attempt against
the former president. You've received death threats over your politics and the
things you've said about politics. What does this attack say to you about this
date -- where we are as a country. 
Mr. Kinzinger: We are in a disastrous place. Politics was invented for one reason, to prevent violence. This is why everybody sitting around, hey, let's create a system where we can talk about our differences without actually turning to using guns. We're attacking each other.
Unfortunately, our politics has broken down so much, any number of people they can take blame for this. We can't have conversations anymore. We now determine who our family and friends are based on what their political viewpoints are. I think we are in a really bad spot.
Hopefully, as terrible as Saturday was, hopefully it wakes us up to the fact that we are all human beings and we can fight passionately at the ballot box but that doesn't mean you take it outside of the ballot box. That's what democracy is all about. It's all about the ability to have differences and work through those differences. [cheers and applause]
Stephen: redress grievances through political action. Everyone is talking understandably about lowering the temperature. What are you looking for in the president's speech on Thursday? What would be a sign for you that he's taking that advice himself?
Mr. Kinzinger: it would be a sign for me if he said "I'm not going to run." That would be a good one. Probably not going to happen. Pretty slim, pretty slim. I think if he stands up and he talks about policy and talks about issues and talks about, basically gives a speech he's never given before, then that will be to me a sign that he wants to lower the temperature. And i truly hope he does.
Again, even today Trump put out a Truth Social that's like, you know, I forget what it was, attacking Joe Biden of course and all the January Sixers who are really just hostages.
That's the thing to keep in mind. They are still defending that. You see that this week? an insurrection against our capitol that was violent that attacked police officers and attacked innocent people. And pretending like it never happened.
That can't happen in this country. We cannot have an attempted insurrection during a peaceful transition of power and then act like it's the other side that's created an environment where there is violence in our discussion.
No, look. We have to be serious about this. Peaceful transition of power, treat each other well, and we are going to be a successful country. [applause]
Stephen: tonight, earlier this evening, President Biden gave an interview on Lester Holt, the Lester Holt Power Hour on NBC. and he expressed in that interview words to the effect, how do you speak the truth about the authoritarian tendencies of someone without- How do we talk about where we are in this election without crossing the line between free-speech and inflammatory rhetoric?
Mr. Kinzinger: this is very important because what you're actually going to see right now and you're starting to see a little bit on the Republican side, trying to intimidate those around Joe Biden from telling the truth about Donald Trump. Anybody that is rational and sane knows when you say things like "we have to stop Donald Trump" or "Donald Trump is a threat to democracy" we are talking about dealing with that in the political context not a violent context.
In case anybody thinks it's a violent context, let's be clear now. We are talking about a political context. We could be intimidated away from telling the American people the truth, which is Donald Trump truly is a threat to democracy. In this country [applause]. we have to stop it but we stop it at the ballot box.
Stephen: On January 6 2021 you spoke to us from your office on Capitol Hill right before you went to finish your business. Did you ever imagine that day that you would be seeing this man renominated?
Mr. Kinzinger: dear god, no. It's interesting. Fred Upton, congressman from Michigan, he has what we call the Upton Prophecies. he was asked what's going happen in the future and he told me on January sixth Trump is going to run again. I am like "no way, I don't believe you, friend." not only did Donald Trump run again, he basically cleared the field in the G.O.P. there is nobody that can speak out against him. He fully has a cult level control over the Republican Party now and he is a good shot at winning the Presidency.
But i certainly thought the GOP would wake up from that. If the GOP had just simply taken an inventory of what they did and said yes, this went too far, we are sorry, x, y, and z. I think we could move on from January 6th.
But it has turned into a denial that it ever happened and I've got to tell you that's a very dangerous thing to pretend like violence never happened.
Stephen: we have to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more congressman Adam Kinzinger, Everybody. Stick around.
Part Two:
"They are celebrating in Moscow tonight" - rep. Kinzinger on trump selecting J.D. Vance as VP
Stephen: Welcome back. It's the best concert in New York every night. Hey, everybody. We're back here with congressman Adam Kinzinger talking about tonight's Republican National Convention. I watched a fair amount of it tonight. I know a lot of effort goes into it. This one seemed particularly kind of low-key and kind of boring. Less like an exciting convention, more kind of like a mega-church service in some ways. Do you recognize your party? Is this the republican party or the trump party at this point?
Mr. Kinzinger: it's the party a recognize of the last seven years but not the party I grew up with as a kid. I liked this idea of a strong America and America's role in the world and that kind of stuff.
That's what drew me to the republican party. I don't recognize that in this party at all.
If they tried to call themselves conservative, there is nothing Conservative about the current Republican party. The stuff they stand for is by definition not conservative. But it really comes down to, are you dedicated to Donald Trump and Donald Trump alone? The question requires that I got called a Rino even before the January 6th stuff, stands for Republican In Name Only, had nothing to do with what I believed.
I was always a moderate but there was room for moderates at that time. He was always about the fact that I never pledged allegiance to a man. That's what this party has become.
It's sad because again, this is the party that built the interstate system, that was very clear eyed about the Soviet Union is now the party committed to a cult type of dedication to Donald Trump and Donald Trump alone. [applause]
Stephen: do you ever go to the RNC? Did you ever go?
Mr. Kinzinger: I went in 2016 to the Cleveland one. That was very interesting. This is when the party started to be taken over by the maga movement and i expected to see maybe they would be a few. Republicans have always been at this stuff. and maybe some maga here and there.
It had gone from this party where all these people that have been involved for years and were always delegates to completely overtaken by what a bunch of disaffected people that were never involved in the party in the first place. I felt very unwelcome in 2016.
Stephen: let's talk about someone who is new to the Republican party, J.D. Vance, picked by Donald Trump to be his vice president. What do you make of that choice. What are your thoughts on that choice?
Mr. Kinzinger: they are celebrating that choice both in Milwaukee tonight and in Moscow. J.D. Vance is the one that has said I frankly don't care what happens in Ukraine. He has very loudly talked about how he doesn't care about what happens in Ukraine. He has opposed aid to Ukraine.
J.D. Vance has aggressively parroted actual Russian talking points. To me he's a guy that was an anti-Trumper that all of a sudden is the biggest pro-trump. No moral soul, no center, how you can like Russian what they are doing in Ukraine is beyond me. I think was a terrible pick for the president.
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END OF TRANSCRIPT
Watch part 1 on YouTube: https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=jswzvspuoc&list=plizxweejyvpcow_eobrvctlf&index=
Watch Part Two on YouTube https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=smsnddcplom&list=plizxweejyvpcow_eobrvctlf&index=&t=s
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Blogged by Kay Ebeling
Producer of
city of angels blog since January 2007
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