Donald Trump’s new claims foisting blame on Ukraine and its leaders for Russia's invasion is just the latest in a series of startling actions the president has engaged in that left former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) grappling with what he called “a painful question.”
“Are we now the bad guys?” Kinzinger wondered aloud Wednesday on his Substack page.
The former Illinois lawmaker aired his concerns in a lengthy post where he first recounted keystones of American ideals – freedom, democracy and being a steadfast ally “of those who resisted oppression” – which he worried the country is straying away from under “an ever-increasingly unhinged Trump.”
“Donald Trump’s recent comments on Ukraine and NATO were a stark reminder of how far we’ve fallen,” Kinzinger wrote. “Yesterday, he called Ukraine the aggressor, today he called Zelensky a dictator, and claimed that Russia could be expected to keep the land they got in Ukraine because ‘it cost them a lot of lives to get it.’ Moscow is shocked, and wondering if they are dreaming.”
Kinzinger, who has found himself in Trump’s crosshairs for his work as a member of the Jan. 6 select committee, went on to recount how decades of leadership under Republican and Democratic presidents left America’s leadership in NATO unshaken.
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“Now Trump’s allies smile and pretend it’s all ok in order to have access to power,” he added. “And to what end? Their shame will be eternal.”
Kinzinger concluded his piece by warning that the current international kerfuffle created by Trump’s remarks “isn’t just about Ukraine or NATO.”
“Trump’s cozying up to dictators like Putin and China’s Xi Jinping reflects a deeper trend—one where we seem more enamored with strongmen than the ideals that once defined us,” according to Kinzinger. “We see it in the growing disdain for democracy itself, with Republicans at both the state and national level working to restrict voting rights, undermine free elections, and criminalize dissent.”
And what’s worse, he added, is “a significant portion of the American public seems fine with it.”
“This shift isn’t just concerning—it’s dangerous,” Kinzinger warned. The world is watching.”