Adam Kinzinger says he's politically "homeless," and if Trump is nominee, he'll vote for Biden

[Music] welcome to the very best part of my broadcast week this week's guest needs no introduction Adam kinzinger former member of congress former congressman from Illinois he now lives in Texas coming to us from his home via zoom in The Woodlands just north of Houston Adam it's good to see you oh it's great to see you it's good to be with you and it's uh I don't know I haven't seen you in a while like back last time we were probably in the middle of of the January 6 stuff indeed the last time you were on this program was just a couple of weeks removed from January 6 you have a new book out called Renegade which talks a great deal about your career before you got into Congress life as an aspiring political figure then a good deal of information pre- January 6 pre-trump about the Tea Party and republicanism then republicanism now we'll get into some of that I want to ask you some things right off the top Adam that are more driven by kind of news of the day headlines so uh Liz Cheney has a book I'm sure you've heard about it seen some of the interviews she said to The Washington Post earlier this week she is considering a possible Run for the presidency do you think that's a good idea would you be supportive I mean I it's it's tough like I think the number one thing on on the the ballot in 2024 is democracy I that's it like we can we can argue different issues you know we've argued taxes for our whole life we've argued abortion guns everything but this is like the year where if we don't get this right I mean truly democracy is a threat and maybe it doesn't go away but it will always be damaged so for her I mean if if a run as an independent for Liz Cheney damages Donald Trump then I think it's smart go for it right it's a it's a good I would love to be in any other environment where a a true conservative party could make a run the only concern I have and this is with any third party attempt is you know are you going to just take away from Joe Biden are you going to give you know people like me who you know they still pretty much in center right you know an opportunity to vote for anybody but Joe Biden and if that's the case that's actually very much to the benefit of of Donald Trump and Donald Trump is I'm sure you're aware I was trying to imply is the big threat to the country in 2024 any doubt in your mind Adam kenzinger that Trump will be the Republican nominee I guess I have a little doubt and it's only because you know everything's unprecedented now like we're always like breaking new grounds and new barriers but you know he does it's there's a good chance he does go to trial in the spring and if that happens and now all of a sudden you have all this information maretto by the way who barely cooperated with the January 6 committee was actually our most valuable player the little bit he provided to us is the thing that set out the whole road map for you know all of January 6 and all the involvement of trump now he's cooperating so there could be a lot more information that we don't know so I will hold back and say in that case it's possible but if I had if I was betting Vegas odds right now I would put all my money on you know Donald Trump will be the nominee and as Chris Christie often says he may very well not even be able to vote for himself come election day let's just play that out Adam kinginger let's say that what you disclosed or hinted at happens Mark Meadows is an exp exposive witness and lots of things are revealed in March April and May but by then Trump's already won the first three he's rolled through super Tuesday and is the presumptive nominee there would have to be some apparatus to take that presumptive nominee status away from him and a convention to then ratify the taking away of that presumptive nominee status What on earth does that look like well since we're playing best case scenario games here I would say uh you know I could see and again I'm not predicting it but I could see where let's say he wins the first number of states you still have back kind of holding back till like May and June there's still a number of states probably that could allow somebody else to come in and clinch that nomination um so that's possibility otherwise if it's so egregious if it's so bad that even ra Romney Romney McDaniel can't even pretend you know that this isn't bad then you can take that nomination away from him a convention but let's again let's let's be clear you know short of some kind something coming out of a trial that hasn't so we had January 6 and it didn't turn people's minds uh that's why I think it's probably very likely going to be Donald Trump but I think we have to keep holding out hope and and not naive hope but continue to fight for that it's somebody else because I think this look this country needs two strong Pro constitutional parties and right now it only has one if it's Trump and Biden do you vote for Joe Biden oh for sure yeah I mean it's not even I don't even have to hesitate look there's you know do I agree with everything Joe Biden's doing no of course not and you know he's a Democrat I'm I'm an old school Republican I'll say but I I believe he's a good man and I believe he's focused on the Constitution you know I believe he's he's not looking for reasons to violate the constitution like Donald Trump is so yeah I mean to me it wouldn't even be a I wouldn't hesitate at all on the day we were recording this decemberth th moments ago Patrick McKenry from North Carolina someone who I believe you know somewhat well announced he will not seek re-election your thoughts yeah and I think we're gonna see more of this uh so Patrick McKenry actually I'd say probably my third year in Congress I was in Congress for 12 years my third year I remember telling somebody like Patrick McKenry is gonna be speaker someday I didn't know he didn't up being speaker Pro Tim for like three weeks but you know because he just he had that ability he was very very conservative but he could reach kind of across the ideological spectrum of the GOP but he was a good man he is a good man but he was a good legislator and and he was somebody that understood the reality of how to legislate so this is this bodess poorly for the institution because what happens is as you know very well good people leave and unfortunately they're not being replaced by good people they're being replaced by people that see Politics as a way to become famous Fame is a new currency uh and so you know North Carolina has a tendency to be a bit of a crazy State sometimes in the Republican party so I I I think the institution's going to suffer for this but I do not blame him an ounce in fact just before we came on the air I sent him a text and said I hope you feel as happy as I did when I made the announcement Congressman M Henry released a statement in which he said quote a great deal of hand ringing and Ink have been spilled about the future of this institution because some like me have decided to leave those concerns are exaggerated I truly feel this institution is on the verge of the next great turn he may be right it may be a great turn but I wonder if you think it's a positive turn well no and I I think you know look Patrick is an institutionalist and so I think he needed to put out a statement like that because we've got to no matter how bad it gets we have to continue to try to defend I mean Congress still even as bad as it is at the moment it is still a magical institution and something that you know a bunch of people came up with one day and to this point it's worked so I I think he's saying the right thing and again major I I am long optimistic in America I really am like I long term I think America's going to come back from this Mo otherwise I wouldn't be doing any of this I'd just you know be sitting by the pool but I think we're going to come back stronger in the long term so maybe there will be like a great turn in the in the house it's just not gonna be it's not now and it's probably not going to be in the next two or four years unfortunately you have described yourself within the last month as a republican but a homeless Republican is that how you still describe yourself are you no longer a republican I consider myself I guess I'll just say generally politically homeless like I obviously do not agree with what the Republican party is pushing the only reason I'm not giving up the title is I refuse to let the the anti constitutionalist side win you know have I have I changed in the last 12 years a little bit you know I've grown up I've moderated on some issues which happens with age and experience and time but generally the same person the same things I believe now would be recognizable to me of 12 13 years ago the party changed and we need people like it would be much easier to just drop the title Republican and say I'm a Democrat now or I'm independent but we've got to have people willing to stay and fight for the soul of the GOP every country every democracy in my mind needs a a liberal or a progressive movement and a conservative movement because that that kind of like tug and pull that push and pull is what actually makes a country Advance at the right speed uh not always perfectly and so I'll continue to fight for the GOP but that doesn't mean I'm voting GOP because I'm not because they are an anti-c constitutionalist party at the moment that is the voice of Adam kininger his book Renegade segment two the takeout coming way in just one second we had our shot and instead of H that happening we failed to repeal the bill and now I think Obamacare is here to stay and we need to just continue to try to improve [Music] it Adam kinzinger is our special guest welcome back to us here on the takeout so you talk about let's talk about former president Trump for a second and a matter that you have lived memory with when you were in the House of Representatives president Trump's elected one of his first legislative initiatives is to replace and repeal Obamacare for whatever reasons the former president has decided to jump back into that space now many years removed tell my audience what you remember of that effort and how wise or unwise politically you think him talking about that now is or isn't well I met uh I met you know the fs he's on a book tour now and so I I to great respect to him I must use this phrase Obamacare repeal has jumped to the shark um you know look when when I was elected in 2010 Obamacare had just passed it was not implemented yet and so the discussion among the US was like let's repeal this law that is not in place yet and replace it with something more in line with kind of our free market approach to healthcare agree or disagree with that the point is Obamacare had not been fully implemented in fact really hadn't even started to be implemented as time went on that became this like uh litness test for are you truly a conservative and frankly I mean I'd go out major and talk to people in the base the Republican base that would have no idea anything about Obamacare except it had the word Obama on the front of it and they wanted it gone because of that so it starts getting implemented people start using the provisions of Obamacare and they still want it gone because they don't know the Pres Provisions that they're using is actually Obamacare again it became a cultural not a racial thing but like a cultural significance of are you a Republican or are you a Democrat so the things that we went through when when President Trump won then and that came to frankly to my committee on Energy and Commerce I wasn't on the subcommittee but I was on the broader committee we went through a so a markup is when a committee basically meets and they put amendments on bills and argue and everything I think we had the longest markup in history it was something like 25 or eight straight hours it was painful and uh and I think we actually produced a pretty good bill now what happened is the freedom caucus for some reason decided that they wanted part of that bill to be that states could deny pre-existing condition protection to people it was a pointless ad and it was heartless so there was a fight about this ran Paul from the Senate ran over to the house tried to tank this whole thing so we acquiesced on that I think if I remember correctly it went to the Senate then because our the the view of the House Republicans was like well let's just get it done kick it to the Senate and then we'll conference this thing out of it in conference but um remember it went over to the Senate they stripped it down to almost nothing they were going to punt it back to us I hope I'm not getting too two in the weeds but people need to remember this and that's when McCain did his famous thumbs down he wasn't voting against per se a new healthc care bill he was Voting against the semantics that Rand Paul was using to try to basically deny people pre-existing conditions So that obviously failed spectacularly and so my view is since then look Republicans had their shot again I think there were some really good things in the healthc care bill in our replacement bill but we had our shot and in instead of H that happening we failed to repeal the bill and now I think Obamacare is here to stay and we need to just continue to try to improve it because these are people's lives now at stake I want to get your opinion on the various legal challenges the former president that is to say former president Trump is confronting in whether or not you think the cases I'll give them in order are strong not strong valid not valid let's start with the New York civil suit currently against the Trump organization do you think that is a valid exercise eyes of the Judiciary yeah certainly it's uh you know that's on the Civil side it seems to be the one he cares most about for some reason he ever yeah and I think it's because it's like let's just be let's I'll try not to sound biased in how I say this it's just he is such a narcissist that the thing that matters to him most is this idea that he's a billionaire and that is a threat right now the the lies are being exposed and they could potentially take his whole bre bring away from him so I think that is a legitimate exercise and uh yeah he's he seems to be more angry about that than potentially facing time in jail the Manhattan district attorney felony charges were linked to the hush money payments I this one I'm I like I think it's a legitimate exercise in law I I I'm a little bummed that it went first because I think you know do you think it poisoned the water I do I do and I I look let's be clear I think regardless of whether this went they they being the Donald Trump folks would be trying to poison the water the water anyway and so we may be in the exact same spot but it didn't help that this was the first that that when all the attention was focused on the first time a former president is arrested it was for the hush money payment I just I wish it had gone in different orders at least the classified documents case this is an open and shut case in my view I think this this is a completely legitimate case I mean look they gave the former president every opportunity to basically not be charged I mean for a year the Department of Justice is like dude we know you have this stuff just give it to us no big deal you don't have a right to it and at any point there he could have done that but for whatever reason I don't know the reason I suspect things but for whatever reason he didn't and from everything I understand and and listening to Legal experts which I am not this is about the most open and shut case that's humanly possible the question on this is timing because there's a lot of issues with you know who can look at the classified documents how do you do that there's a whole law associated with that which may delay this case the special council's DC based case on overturning or attempting to overturn the 2020 election I think also a really strong case I think you know given what we were able to get on the January 6 committee and I think if we'd have just put our case in front of a jury there's a great chance we could have convicted the former president on that alone well the special Council has basically picked up where we left off like I know for a fact they wouldn't be investigating this without the committee they picked up they were able to pick up kind of where we left off and they had different tools you know you can now use immunity which we didn't use immunity because we didn't want to mess with a potential federal case um I think it's going to be very strong and this one to me even though they're all quite important this is the most important and the reason reason I say that is because look and and I say this very seriously we never want to be a country that throws the last Administration in jail you see that in failing democracies everywhere or so-called democracies but we even greater than that cannot be a country that allows somebody to try a coup and as long as they fail it's okay because if they succeed they've succeeded if they fail it's like okay well let's Let It Go this this to me is is the case that will actually set the tone for how transitions of power happen from here maybe for the next rest of the future history of America in my mind I was at a conference last week at the baker Institute at Rice University in Houston and a law professor there said this case the dc-based special counsel case on Election interference 2020 is the most important case in American history yeah I would almost agree because I mean I guess you know I as I try to Rack my brain for case law cases again not being a lawyer I can't think of anything more important because the thing that has differentiated us major between like a failing democracy or a Banana Republic or whatever and this American like bull workk this this I don't know this institution this force of America and how we've done everything so well is that we have peaceful transitions of power it's never a problem when somebody's in power because they have the levers of power it's releasing those levers to somebody else that was as Liz Cheney says and you know that was threatened for the first time ever on January 6 of 2021 in in D and you know DC well and probably many of of your listeners know DC very well when you violate a standard a norm an expectation it never comes back you know like when you when you change the rules on the senate floor for instance you'll never go back to how they were like nothing change so when it became cool or hip or Vogue to vote against certification of of an election not even talking about the actual Insurrection but just that alone now every four years the party that it lost that presidential election will be under pressure to vote against certification of a new president particularly the Republicans that's a dangerous thing that puts us in a constitutional gray area that I don't know how we get out of we have one more case to ask Adam kenzinger about we will do so on the other side of this break stay tuned for Segment three to take out in just one moment we live in some weird moment where the tribe is more important than the truth and that's [Music] frightening [Music] welcome back to the takeout continuing our conversation with Adam kinzinger his new book Renegade uh Adam uh the last case I want to run by you the Fulton County Rico conspiracy case against the former president many others of course a couple of his attorneys have already notably become convicts in that case they have pled guilty and agreed to cooperate there and in other jurisdictions this is a very powerful casee it's a very welldone case it's very important because this is the one case that well I guess the maybe the hush money case is the same as well but in this case if the president if if Donald Trump runs and wins the presidency again he can and and there's nothing that stops him as far as I understand he can direct the Department of Justice to drop the case against him any federal case or he could potentially pardon himself which sets up a constitutional crisis but honestly I don't read anywhere in the Constitution that says a president can't pardon themselves so this is now outside of that pardon uh Power a state case now of course you run into a whole bunch of other things can a state Governor or can a state arrest a president you know no I mean there's all this kind of stuff but this is something that is out of the direct purview of what a potential future president Trump could do uh not only that you have plenty of guilty pleas right now and this has produced which is amazing to me uh and I'll explain why this has produced tearful confessions of some of these folks that you know were were leading the denial train Jenna Ellis is the name Jenna Ellis exactly and and what was amazing to me major is watching Jenna Ellis on one side of the screen tearfully and I believe legitimately tearfully I don't I don't mean that pejoratively tearfully admitting her role and her understanding of what went on while at the same time there was a race for speaker of the house where the new speaker the barrier to entry to become speaker of the house was did you vote against certification of the election if you voted for certification like Tom emmer did for instance you weren't considered a serious candidate so that was the requirement to run for speaker while Jenna Ellis is tearfully admitting it was all a lie I that is something I cannot wrap my head around except to say that we live in some weird moment where the tribe is more important than the truth and that's frightening to me talk to me about speaker Mike Johnson and his role in what led up to January 6 2021 from your Vantage Point so Mike Johnson was always I never knew him fairly well until January 6 or just prior to that so there was this lawsuit that I guess yes Texas had signed on to or was leading to basically throw out the election was leading to throw out the election results of other states and Mike Johnson LED what was called an amus brief so basically he wanted these members of Congress to sign on to this brief in essence in support of Texas he came up to me and asked me to sign on to it and I just kind of laughed at him I go obviously you don't know me very well Mike because I was the most outspoken against this at the time and he kind of scurried away quick aside to that story so the the list came out of who had signed on to that brief and Kevin McCarthy's name wasn't on there and in fact the night before he told Liz Cheney I will not sign on to this Texas lawsuit she's like great Kevin because it's stupid so that morning the names come out Kevin's not on there and he sees like Twitter traffic angry that Kevin's name isn't on there and he puts out a statement that says his name was inadvertently left off and his name was added that day it goes to show how how Kevin was but Mike Johnson every even though you didn't see his face even though you didn't necessarily know who he was any argument about January 6 that had a legal or constitutional tinge to it I don't think there was any argument that could ever justify it but anything that pretended to justify it was usually the handiwork of Mike Johnson as a constitutional lawyer he was the one that was able to twist it he's you know we'll see how he does on Ukraine in terms of like though because I think that's really one of the most important things things but uh he certainly was one of the mental forces behind the attempt to overthrow the government on January 6 what does it mean to you that he could be speaker when the house convenes after the next presidential election I mean I it just I guess I'm not surprised about anything and if it's him like I mean look let's say here's what people need to realize too when we go into this presidential election and you know there's talks to third parties and everything and if you don't get to 270 electoral votes or like the attempt was on January 6th if for whatever reason the votes aren't certified or counted the rule is it then goes to the house to elect the president and if you think about the power that a speaker could have or the or somebody you know the vice president presiding over the Senate what happens if they simply say the Constitution will allow the house to vote the house will vote for Donald Trump because it's not based on the number of seats occupied in the house it's based on States so Wyoming has as much power as California I I don't know I don't you know if that technically follows the Constitution will the Supreme Court step in and intervene probably not and that's what's frightening about having somebody like a Mike Johnson as Speaker particularly during that time there have been Revelations because of inadvertent Court Document production related to Scott Perry a member of the House of Representatives who I believe believe was someone the select committee was curious about what did you learn and do you think Scott Perry is or should remain a member in good standing of the House of Representatives well look major I think a significant number of Republicans right now should not remain members in good standings of the House of Representatives because I'll just say this we take an oath but the oath isn't to our district it's not to the 700,000 people we represent the oath is to the Constitution and so if every member of my district had called me on the phone and told me to vote against impeachment for instance that doesn't matter because my oath was not to them and and I think that's something to keep in mind and to remember and I think there are so many Republicans in my mind that violated that oath that they have disqualified themselves from the position because it's it's only when you hold that oath dear that you actually can defend the institution of democracy and frankly self-governance with with Scott per he's somebody who is a True Believer that The end justifies the means and the end to him the ends is the complete and utter destruction of the left of the liberal movement of progressivism of you know anything outside of his brand of Christian nationalism and so what we saw the little bit we did saw was quite concerning with Scott Perry obviously as this goes on we learn more and more he ignored the subpoena to come in and speak to his own Institution um but I definitely think Scott Perry is up there with Jim Jordan up there with Mike Johnson and many of the others whose names you know are baned about uh with January 6 does it bother you Adam kinzinger that George Santos has been expelled and Scott Perry hasn't or there isn't even a conversation about that are those are those is that a valid comparison or anyway you know it's weird because like on the one hand I'd say I'm glad Santos is out obviously that I mean look I don't I I mean this kind of tongue and cheek but like at least try to launder the money that you're stealing you know George Santos just basically took a donor's check and then directly deposited into his bank account like make an effort at least but uh you know so he was he was so obviously corrupt that it was it was incredible and uh so yeah he he deserved to go but yeah if I if I was running the kind of ethics of the House of Representatives yeah Scott Perry would have been gone far before him because George Santos is terrible of a man truly that I believe he is he's not a threat to the Constitution like somebody like Scott Perry is you write about Elise stonic in the book Renegade what do you what do you have to say about her look Elise is one of the smartest people I know Alise came into the House of Representatives I was excited when she came in because she came in as this new generation conservative who was going to tackle climate change who was going to reach out to the middle and try to win the youth vote right this was something I was passionate about too she seemed I think a little more moderate on the issue of guns and like kind of this branding of conservatism that I think could have propelled true conservatism into the Next Generation and the most surprising thing ever was her turning on a dime and it was all when she got a taste of Fame by defending Donald Trump in I think it was the first impeachment she made and I think her her anger at that first time was legitimate she was upset at Adam shift for something and some of the procedures and how this was going down so she made a passionate speech and of course then Donald Trump praised her and so did Twitter the right on Twitter and that changed her I look major I have seen this happen to so many people and Donald Trump tried to do it to me where I met with him in the Oval Office and I was never a big Donald Trump guy and he knew it and so I expected Adam I'm gonna I'm gonna set up a cliffhanger for you and for me and for the audience you're in the Oval Office with Donald Trump to be continued in segment four the first thing he says is you're great on television he said that to me and then he kept saying it over and over you're great on television you're great on [Music] television [Music] welcome back to the ticket where we specialized in Cliffhangers Adam keninger is in the Oval Office with Donald Trump go yeah and it so you know I'm talking about how so many people can kind of go in aggressive to Donald Trump and come out huge sick of fans Lindsey Graham you know those Lee stonic when I came into the Oval Office I expected so this was right after the his election and I did not endorse him and I expected he was going to chew me out in front of everybody and I'm like look he's the president he chew me out whatever and I show up and the first thing he says is you're great on television he said that to me and then he kept saying it over and over you're great on television you're great on television and I got flattered right the president of the United States says I'm great on television well you come to realize he's doing two things he's trying to win you he doesn't know why he hasn't won you that's part of that narcissism and and he's letting you know he's watching and I had to fight this too the natural Temptation when you know the most powerful man in the world knows who you are and is watching is to try to do things to please him and so what you would see from like El leise stefanic is she gets praise all of a sudden from Donald Trump and she had been up to that point in that first impeachment kind of you know antagonistic towards him that felt good it feels good to get welcomed into the tribe if feels safe and she just turned on a dime that's one of the things I just of all the things that I've seen happen in Congress her turning is one of the most mysterious to me in the book you describe regrets about your first impeachment vote to support the president and not vote to impeach him why do you regret that yeah I mean it's it's it's a mix because I also I well recognize had I voted to impeach him the first time I would not have been around I wouldn't have gotten reelected I wouldn't have been around for January 6th and I think that the role there was so important but I think it's important to if you're going to come to the to the table with Solutions and talk about what's gone wrong it's it's important to admit your own faults too many people don't and I the reason I voted against impeachment was the first time was cowardice right it was I knew that I wouldn't win I was looking desperately for a reason to vote no and then Nancy Pelosi gave me not a reason to vote no but a reason to say it was a reason to vote no she kind of WR rushed it at the end and said we want to get this done before the turn of the year and I was like well on something so serious and important we can't rush it and that's why I'm voting no it's funny if you look at my statement from then it's basically what he did was terrible but we have more work to do and we haven't done it so but I you know it was it was a cowardice move like I should have in defending the Constitution I should have voted to impeach like Mitt Romney did on one of the counts uh but I didn't and I'm I'm glad in the the long run that I was there to fight for the January 6 stuff because I couldn't imagine you know Liz having to do it on her own but uh you know at least she had company now I want to ask you about a piece that appeared in the Washington Post November 30th written by Robert Kagan let me read to you the first paragraph it's short let's stop the wishful thinking there is a clear path to dictatorship in the United States and it is getting shorter every day 100% look Robert kagan's a smart guy I know him um I I would ask people this if if you are still skeptical that there is a way somebody like Donald Trump could become a dictator or could destroy democracy I understand it because for 200 some years with the exception of the Civil War we've had a fairly strong democracy and we've never seen this but think ask yourself what would stop this from happening if your answer is well uh the Supreme Court okay it's a great answer and the Supreme Court to this point and all the courts have actually been pretty good at upholding the Constitution uh even if you disagree with their you know micro policies on things like abortion but who's going to enforce the Supreme Court decision like there is no Supreme Court police force so if the president decides if if Trump decides for instance he's just not going to follow it remember he's the executive of the government he executes the rulings of the Supreme Court um okay well what next well the military okay well first off the president controls the military the president is the commander-in-chief but if for some reason the military decides that he's gone too far and decides whatever they're going to defend democracy uh who's to say that every member of the military who takes an oath not to the military but to the Constitution will not misinterpret their role to the Constitution as def Donald Trump the point I'm making is everything that we think exists to defend democracy that does exist to defend democracy it it all relies on one thing this compact we have with each other that we're going to play by the same rules the second you decide you know if the Cubs against play the Cardinals in baseball the second the Cardinals decide that the referee calls or the the Umpire calls don't matter and that you actually go to third base and then back to home and that counts as a point and the home team person's going to put the put the scoreboard up at one point anyway you don't have a game anymore and you can never get back to order it's no different in politics even though I said referee for baseball you shall be forgiven you write in the book Renegade uh that the legal system is designed to work in increments and when we were going through the various cases and your description of their uh soundness legitimacy I wanted to ask ask you this do you think that the former president is being treated differently than any other defendant in this country would be treated and by that I don't mean worse I mean easier 100% yeah and look I'm not outraged about it because there is there is the reality that he is the former president there's I don't know there's something to that I I don't know if I could put words to it but I mean he's I I can't imagine if I was in his situation even as a former Congressman that I'd be allowed to go after a judge's wife that I'd be allowed to go after Witnesses in a case you know that I'd be allowed to threaten violence as publicly as he has um I mean think about this you know he's he's in essence going to be on trial for January 6 and at a rally just a couple of weeks ago he had the January 6 quote unquote political prisoners in DC singing the National Anthem opening his rally he's threatened he says that General Mark Millie should be executed I mean any other defendant would have their mouth taped shut and thrown in jail he is being treated better he's being given a significant I mean he has a lot of laws like you know executive privilege he can gum up the works in the courts about even though he's doesn't have this executive privilege yeah it's truly truly so recently at a rally Trump supporters held up signs saying Biden attacks democracy and with his rhetoric the former president has now tried to say oh no it's not me it's the other side if you got 45 seconds this is this is Donald Trump standard I mean think about China he always talks about how weak Joe Biden is on China I sat in the office with Donald Trump while he begged us to Grant sanction relief to China's ZTE Telecom because he made a personal plea to president she of China and could we just do him this favor that's weak on China anything that he puts on other people is usually what he himself is so I think he's recognizes it and he tries to muddy the Water by claiming that Joe Biden is the same thing well there's no comparison in terms of who's a bigger threat to democracy that is the voice of Adam kinzinger as I said he needs no introduction the book Renegade stay tuned for your take out out take espeel that's next we'll see you next week it opened up with oh my what a disappointment you are to us and to God you're you know you're a member of the devil's [Music] Army welcome to your takeout outt take aeal Adam kinzinger is our special guest his book is Renegade it's about his life in politics and there's a part of the book I want you to discuss with my audience Adam it's a letter you received from Karen Otto who is Karen Otto and why did you spend so much time talking about that particular letter and what do you think it indicated so Karen a is my Dad's cousin um about one day out of 30 I would go down to see my parents I lived about an hour and a half north when I was in Congress and this one day I happened to go see my folks and it just so happened that a certified letter I didn't know people still sent those showed up at my house and it was from Karen a and 15 or 16 other names that were all Os or kingers you know all related and I opened it up thinking you know naively that it might be a letter of encouragement right it's your family and uh it opened up with oh my what a disappointment you are to us and to God you're you know you're a member of the devil's Army you've lost the trust of great people like Shan Hannity had actually said that and uh and it was my family my dad's cousins basically disowning me because of my view of Donald Trump and it was filled with religious language Christian nationalist language this idea that Donald Trump is some he gave the Plan of Salvation on TV just the other day well my kado doesn't remember that he also has said he's never asked God for forgiveness which is kind of the first part of the whole Plan of Salvation and uh so that was in interesting to me I tell that story like I I have not made up with that side of the family and and I don't intend to there's no reason to I tell that story not to try to get sympathy but because everybody has a similar story like that maybe you didn't get an official certified letter maybe it wasn't you know twinged with Christian nationalism but you were at Thanksgiving dinner when Uncle so and so basically left early because somebody voted for Biden like this this trumpism is tearing families apart and it's I I bring that out so people can see how bad it is because if you know Joe blow down the street tries to put out what letter he was received nobody pay attention when I do it's big news it should be big news because it's just pure utter I call it MAA brainworms and it was it's sad you also say in the book that trumpists remind you or have similarities to Islamic fundamentalists what do you mean so so look let's look at what what is the Taliban okay the Taliban is a governing organization they want to govern they want to govern according to the principles of sharia law that's what their whole fight is over you know women can't go to school all this stuff what is it that these Christian nationalists like Marjorie Taylor green or whoever is trying to push they want to govern they want to govern according to biblical their biblical interpretation I'm a Christian major like I believe in Christian principles but I also believe that this is a secular government that represents people of all different backgrounds and religions and so is there beheadings like the Taliban do no but what is the difference in terms of a fundamentalist view of ruling or governing through a religion what's the difference between Christian nationalism and the Taliban besides those instates is not much it's the same thing and it can grow when you just look at Twitter or you look at whatever the latest social media is and you see people talking about killing gay people or now Nazism kind of back in Vogue again somehow uh it goes to show that we may not be very far from this getting to an even darker spot and when I hear you talk Adam kenzinger I hear you describing things that are analogous trumpist Islamic fundamentalism in that they are both ferocious and righteous yeah yeah you know an interesting thing about fundamentalism is whether it's fundamentalist Christian fundamentalist Muslim fundamentalist Republican fundamentalists hate more than they hate the opposition so like more than a fundamental Muslim you know Islamic fundamentalist hates a Christian they hate other Islam other Muslims that don't believe exactly like they do more um Christian and I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian Church that I left we spent more time talking about other Christian religions that weren't quote unquote true Christians than we did about anything else apostates and republicanism why is it that I get labeled a rhino why is it that you know the vast majority of of of effort that some Republicans put out is against me and Liz Cheney and not Democrats because they're fundamentalist Republicans they are more offended by somebody that claims to be them that's not that's fundamentalism no matter what kind of variety it has the voice of Adam kinzinger former member of the House of Representatives prominent member of the select committee on January 6th his book Renegade Adam it's been a pleasure thanks so much oh it's been great good to see you we'll see you folks next [Music] week

Channel: Face the Nation

Views: 256,665

Keywords: The Takeout, full episode, CBS News, video, Major Garrett, Adam Kinzinger

Id: lrf9Dk8VGIs

Length: 44min 51sec (2691 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 11 2023