Rep. Adam Kinzinger arrives before a hearing for the Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol on July 27, 2021. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said this week that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) looks like a "feckless, weak, tired man" after Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) were blacklisted from the Republican Party.
Why it matters: His comments on "The Bulwark Podcast" come after the Republican National Committee censured Kinzinger and Cheney for serving on the House Jan. 6 select committee. McCarthy has since attempted to defend language used in the censure resolution, which called the Jan. 6 insurrection "legitimate political discourse," per Insider.
What he's saying: McCarthy thought Cheney would "go away" after they removed her from leadership, Kinzinger told The Bulwark Podcast's Charlie Sykes. But she didn't, and instead "he looks like a feckless, weak, tired man that is doing the bidding of whatever Majorie Taylor Greene thinks is gonna raise her money that day."
- "Even if he does somehow become speaker, he's gonna have to have a good cellphone plan because he will be calling Marjorie Taylor Greene every day asking her what he can, what he can't, do," Kinzinger said.
- "I mean, my goodness. Having the title of speaker but then really being, you know, subservient to a sophomore in Congress who's crazy and a number of them — why would you even want that?"
- "The Republicans may win the majority, but that is gonna be, I think, when he is hostage to Marjorie Taylor Greene, probably do more damage to the Republican Party than even anything in the next year," Kinzinger added.
Worth noting: The RNC's censure has come under fire from Republican figures, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch. McConnell (R-Ky.).