Ex-GOPer slams fame-hungry former colleagues for allowing 'slide to authoritarianism'

Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger hit out at D.C. for becoming a "new Hollywood" where people are getting elected just "to become famous."

"And a lot of the time they just put their head in the sand and pretend like we can get this fixed by just allowing the far right to have their way on a number of things," Kinzinger said. "And so while most may be there to govern, that doesn't mean that they're going to actually do what they need to do to get to a situation where they can fight back and govern."

When it comes to the ousting of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, Kinzinger said the "writing was on the wall."

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"When you cut a deal with what I think [former Speaker John] Boehner aptly called the 'terrorist caucus,' and you start cutting deals that make it where they hold you hostage, and then you come up against real deadlines like a debt limit, like government shutdowns, I think it was inevitable," he said.

When asked if he still considers himself a Republican, Kinzinger replied that he does, but "only because I'm not willing to give up and only because I haven't changed. I will say I will call myself a Republican that feels politically homeless at the moment and don't know where I belong.

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"But I also know that if everything kind of tracks the way it is in 2024, I won't be voting Republican because, again, I think it's a simple question of democracy or no democracy," he said. "And the Republican Party represents right now a real slide to authoritarianism ... If it was Joe Biden and Donald Trump, I don't think there's any question I would vote for Joe Biden."