Kinzinger finds self cut off on ‘island’ alone with Trump on border wall

Adam Kinzinger, a Republican member of Congress from Channahon, wants to believe he’s with the “majority” in siding with President Donald Trump’s efforts to erect a barricade along the U.S./Mexico border.

KINZINGER: Picking sides on border

So I suspect he’s stunned to find out that there are people in positions of authority who think he’s behaving like, to put it bluntly, a twit for doing so.

THAT’S THE CASE these days, as Kinzinger the other day made a point of siding with Trump (sort of) on the issue of declaring an emergency status so as to allow him to use federal funds to erect the so-called ‘wall’ he’s eager to have built to create the image of Mexico as some alien place totally separate from U.S.

I say “sort of” because Kinzinger’s support for Trump was kind of lame. Almost as though he wishes he didn’t have to say anything publicly on the issue.

Because Kinzinger, when appearing this past weekend on the CBS “Face the Nation” program, said he won’t vote to block Trump’s wall talk.

As in he won’t side with the measure likely to get majority support in the House of Representatives to thwart Trump’s desires. It’s the measure offered up by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. – so it shouldn’t be a surprise that Kinzinger wouldn’t be inclined to support it.

EVERS: Took Wisconsin out of partisan mix

KINZINGER SERVES AS an Air National Guard member who recently got called up to active duty; and in fact finished a stint with his unit in Arizona to help local authorities in terms of patrolling the border region.

Yet his unit, which is based in Wisconsin, is no longer going to be part of border patrol efforts. For it seems that Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued his own order recalling his state’s contribution to the border efforts.

The order was issued Monday, and Wisconsin’s troops will be returned home by Sunday. Kinzinger is probably thinking he and his Guard colleagues were “sold out” by their very own leadership.

Yet it’s more likely that Evers is simply more aware of the mood of Wisconsinites who’d rather not see their people and resources used to try to justify the “national emergency” that Trump is so desperate to want us to believe exists.

TRUMP: It's all about his ego, now

PARTICULARLY SINCE I suspect Trump’s real motivation for backing this whole idea is to see something built on his watch as president. As in “Trump, the Border Wall!” To go with all those ridiculously gauche hotels he’s had erected that bear his name.

Kinzinger has offered up defenses of Trump’s efforts at interfering with existing immigration policy. Although I can’t help but read those and think Kinzinger is actually offering up justifications for why we ought to think of Trump as a fraud on this issue.

Such as when he tells of how he was part of a crew that caught a man trying to cross the border into the United States with 70 pounds of methamphetamine. Which he used Twitter to ponder, “Wonder the damage that would do in Milwaukee.”

Except I see it as there wouldn’t be any need for that guy to try to bring such a substance into this country – if not for the fact he knows it will bring him big bucks. As in it’s people in this country already (the ones that Trump would try to claim are “real Americans”) who create the demand.

KINZINGER ALSO TOUTED the “coyotes” he helped capture (as in the people who help smuggle people into this country.

LINCOLN: Wiser words from Honest Abe

But if we had more rational immigration policies (as in not so concerned about keeping certain types of people from thinking they might belong in this country), the “coyotes” would be put out of business.

The Congressman also mentions helping to rescue a woman who was stranded in the desert that separates the United States and Mexico. Which is a noble purpose; although I suspect many of the ideologues who favor Trump and his border wall and immigration “tough talk” would have favored leaving the woman to suffer.

All of which means Kinzinger likely would have been better off keeping quiet on this particular issue. Because as Abraham Lincoln is said to have said, “It’s like when you remain silent people may doubt if you are a fool, but if you say something silly you will know for sure.”

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Start of a GOP tide sway against DJT?

I haven’t given any thought to impeachment of the president or any other scenario that would remove Donald J. Trump from his elected post prior to January of 2021 because I realize it’s not practical.

KINZINGER: First of GOP tidal wave?

Not that I’m at all satisfied with the performance of our nation’s president; although I’d argue he’s behaving about as incompetently as should have been expected. Anybody who thought he’d be better was thinking cluelessly.

BUT IT’S THAT I realize options such as “impeachment” are political maneuvers, which means we’d need to have a sense of unity amongst our government officials (particularly those in Congress) that Trump has to go – that we can’t afford to endure one more moment of him in office.

But I also realize that Congress’ current leadership is Republican, and that the election of Trump gave them what they have long desired (and honestly believe is the way government should always operate) – a condition where they can ignore the political opposition and do things their way.

In our modern era, it is the way of politics. We elect officials of the Republican persuasion who seriously see compromise as evil – which causes the Democratic Party opposition to get itself all worked up into righteous indignation in thinking they’re standing up for “the people” rather than themselves.

Meanwhile, we the people have to endure all the nonsense.

BUT THE POINT is that the Republican leadership will keep Trump in his post so long as he serves their needs, and will do whatever it thinks is required to prop him up and support him against the attacks of those of us in the majority who wonder how irrational a president do we have these days.

I’m sure Republican leadership thinks that all the Trump nonsense to date is merely stuff that irritates their Democratic opposition, which is something they probably take delight in seeing.

Which is why it is significant to see that Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is now coming out and suggesting investigations of this Age of Trump. It’s a tiny little crack in the façade, and I’m sure Republican leadership will try to patch it over quickly before anyone takes notice.

 

PENCE: Thought of him as Prez scares people

But Kinzinger, who lives in Channahon, Ill. (just south of Joliet), is going public in saying he wants some sort of special prosecutor or independent commission to investigate Trump’s behavior. Later in the day Wednesday, the Attorney General's office named former FBI Director Robert Mueller to handle an investigation.

HE’S NOT COMING out and accusing Trump of anything, but he’s bothered enough by the endless rounds of stories concerning the presidential behavior that he wants to get at the truth.

If anything, it will be interesting to see if Kinzinger faces any kind of backlash from his own political party. As in, “Keep yer mouth shut!” and don’t give any encouragement to the opposition.

That probably will be the first reaction of many ideologue partisans who cast their ballots for Trump (the 46 percent) and most of whom remain committed to the man because they like the idea his presence infuriates their opponents – no matter how rational their opponents may be in the majority of our society.

But when we get the rounds of reports hinting Trump may have been careless enough to let classified national information slip to the Russian government, along with the latest New York Times report indicating he tried to pressure now-former FBI Director James Comey to quit investigating his national security adviser, this could be what causes a trickle to burst forth into a flood – turning that crack into a serious gouge in the wall.

OF COURSE, THERE’S one thing we should keep in mind. Removing Trump alone doesn’t change things. For his replacement would be the vice president.

 

TRUMP: Comical? Or terrifying?

And I know many a Hoosier resident who shudder in disgust at the idea of their state’s former governor, Mike Pence, becoming the occupant of the Oval Office at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W. in D.C.

That could be what turns the comic relief government of the Age of Trump into a truly politically partisan era that seeks to ram its ideological leanings down the throats of the masses of our society.

Although there is one ultimate political truth; if we want to complain but can’t be bothered to vote in future elections, then perhaps we deserve whatever misery gets handed down upon us in the next couple of years.

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