Rockford Sun

Former President Donald Trump used his recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) speech to reignite his running feud with Rep. Adam Kinzinger.

In his first public appearance since leaving the White House, Trump went on the attack against Kinzinger and other republican lawmakers that voted to impeach him.

Trump slammed the lot of 10 GOP members as “grandstanders” and RINOs, at one point urging the crowd “get rid of them all.”

Kinzinger wasn’t moved, using his own speech during a virtual press conference that came later to slam Trump’s remarks as “recycled” and his address as having “no new ideas” and being “peppered with dishonesty.”

Kinzinger also blasted Trump as the RINO (Republican in name only), adding “he just became a Republican in the last few years, and there’s a lot he said I don’t think is anything reflective of Republicanism.”

Kinzinger also used the moment to publicly launch his “Country First” political action committee and to attempt to pry the Republican Party out of Trump’s clutches and toward what he sees as more traditional conservative principles.

“Fear is rising,” Kinzinger added on the PAC’s new video. “Fear of others, fear of ideas, fear of the economy, fear of our differences. …Yet rather than dispel the fear, most of our leaders stoke it. They have amplified fear for their own selfish gain.”

Finally, Kinzinger said he wasn’t too concerned about those who have vied to challenge him as revenge for his war against Trump, including Catalina Lauf, who recently launched her campaign to challenge him in the 16th Congressional District republican primary.  

“They have no interest in representing the people they live with,” he said of all his would-be challengers. “They’re more interested in representing the interests of a man.”