LOS ANGELES.–Back in the fake news headlines, 47-year-old Trump-hater former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Il.) always finds his way to anyone willing to listen to his vitriol about 78-year-old President Donald Trump. Kinzinger, his 58-year-old former colleague on the Jan. 6 Select House Committee former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.), like to rip Trump anywhere, any place on any news outlet giving them a platform. Kinzinger joins the ranks of Cheney, John Bolton, George Conway, Anthony Scaramucci, Michael Cohen, Michael Avenatti [now imprisoned] and 77-year-old former Sen. Mitt Romney, ready to appear on CNN, MSNBC or any anti-Trump outlet willing to put them on. Now Kinzinger get quoted in the liberal Hill newspaper, always looking to take a shot at Trump. Kinzinger threw his two cents into the Feb. 28 Zelensky Oval Office debacle with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.
Kinzinger was in his heyday blaming Trump for the Oval Office incident where 47-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky argued with Trump and Vance in the Oval Office. “I’m sorry, I had to say this . . . But the United States right now is not the good guys in the this. We have been clear: Donald Trump has said everything nice about Russia,” Kinzinger told CNN’s political editor Dana Bash. Kinzinger doesn’t think for a second that Zelensky was out of line arguing with Trump and Vance in the Oval Office. To Kinzinger and other Democrats, it’s all Trump’s fault for not agreeing with Zelensky to continue the policy of 82-year-old former President Joe Biden. “I can’t think of a single time he said something bad about Vladimir Putin, and it’s very rare,” Kinzinger said, making the old Russian collusion argument that Trump been in bed with Putin for some time.
Bash knows perfectly well Kinzinger’s egregious political bias against Trump, saying nothing positive no matter what Trump does. “We were so shocked yesterday when he said that, ‘Oh, did I really say Zelensky was dictator?’ This is the moment we’re in, and this should be an embarrassment to all Americans,” Kinzinger told Bash. Bash knows that Zelensky stabbed Trump in the back at the Munich Security Conference, telling EU members that Trump had abandoned European security, urging Brussels to start their own army. Zelensky has been trying to get NATO membership for years, even though Trump said he could forget about NATO membership. Actually, Zelensky was told by former NATO Secretary Gen. Jens Stoltenberg that Ukraine did not qualify for membership because it was not a democracy but, more importantly, it was at war with the Kremlin.
Kinzinger likes to nitpick, take things out of context and report the worst possible interpretation against Trump to the fake news. CNN is ready and willing to hear anything negative about Trump especially from Republicans. Kinzinger, who once had promising career in the GOP, destroyed his future by joining the anti-Trump chorus, finding anything bad to say about Trump. Kinzinger criticizes Trump for not bashing Putin in public, something Biden did regularly, eventually destroying U.S.-Russian relations. All Democrats can say now is that Trump is a “Putin puppet,” the same language used by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Md.) who, like his colleague Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) slams Trump for having inappropriate relations with the Kremlin. Now that Trump seeks peace in Ukraine, the fake news accuses Trump again of Russian collusion, the same charge as Hillary in 2016.
Kinzinger thinks Trump should be slamming Putin, something that would only make a bad situation worse. If Trump has praised Putin in the past, it’s all about keeping the door open to restore U.S.-Russian relations something killed by Biden over the last four years. What good did it do for Biden to call Putin a “murderous thug,” when he was destroying decades of diplomacy, détente and arms control? Biden completely gave up on nuclear nonproliferation or arms control talks, instead funding proxy war against the Kremlin. When Trump came to office Jan. 20, he completely reversed course from Biden, trying to end the Ukraine War and reestablish normal diplomatic relations with the Kremlin. Zelensky couldn’t fathom that Trump was making friends with Ukraine’s mortal enemy. Zelensky didn’t know that, before Biden, the U.S. had pragmatic, cooperative relations with the Kremlin.
Kinzinger could not be more insulting to Trump, calling the president unhinged and acting like a toddler, a typical Democrat talking point during the 2024 campaign. “If he comes here and grovels to a toddler that needs to be groveled to, like, what is that sending—what message is that sending to his troops that are leading a country during an active conflict,” Kinzinger said. Kinzinger’s comments mirror the same insulting talking points former Vice President Kamala Harris used during the 2024 campaign. No on listens to Kinzinger other than disgruntled Republicans and angry Democrats. He has zero credibility in the GOP, except for a few anti-Trump stragglers. Zelensky is already asking for forgiveness for his Oval Office breakdown, telling the American Public on X that Ukraine needs American support. How’s he suppose to get it when he insults Trump?
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
