Kinzinger ‘can’t get there’ to support Trump

Adam Kinzinger
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger has been one of Donald Trump’s harshest critics in the Republican Party.
(Photo courtesy wwwcspan.org/YouTube)

By Eric Stock

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Channahon, has been one of presidential candidate Donald Trump’s toughest critics in the Republican Party.

Trump’s recent criticism of the family of a fallen soldier appears to be the last straw for Kinzinger.

“Donald Trump for me is beginning to cross a lot of red lines of the unforgivable in politics,” Kinzinger said on CNN. “I’m not going to support Hillary, but in America we have the right to write somebody in or skip the vote and vote for Mark Kirk (for U.S. Senate) in Illinois for instance. That’s what it’s looking like for me today. I just don’t see how I get to Donald Trump anymore.”

Kinzinger, a pilot in the Air National Guard, said he was hoping to build party unity at the GOP convention, but was turned off by Trump’s comments suggesting that the U.S. may not help NATO allies if he became president, them became more troubled by Trump’s comments critical of the family Capt. Humayun Khan, whose father, Khizr Khan, had slammed Trump in a speech at the Democratic National Convention.

“This unbelievable spat with a family of a fallen soldier, a fallen soldier who swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, wouldn’t even initially say we honor the family for their service,” Kinzinger said. “(Trump) immediately took it as what it was to him, an affront to him.”

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…