Former Republican lawmaker offers a blistering assessment of Trump in DNC speech

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Rep. Adam Kinzinger. / Getty Images

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Turning against his party’s presidential nominee Donald Trump, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., delivered a prime-time speech supporting Harris.

In taking the stage, Kinzinger acknowledged he was making an “awkward alliance” with Democrats. But he said he was making the alliance in order “to defend truth, defend democracy and decency.”

Kinzinger, who has been a vocal Trump critic over the years, said the former president had "suffocated the soul of the Republican party.”

“Vote for our bedrock values and vote for Kamala Harris,” Kinzinger said. He added that he was making this endorsement despite having policy disagreements with Harris.

“Whatever policies we disagree on pale in comparison with those fundamentals matters of principle, of decency, and of fidelity to this nation,” he said.

The Harris campaign — as well as the then-Biden campaign — has been heavily courting moderate Republicans and independents who are dubious of Trump’s politics and leadership.

A group of Republicans, including Kinzinger, have come together in support of Harris, and recently held an online rally under the affinity group “Republicans for Harris.”
Kinzinger said he lost faith in Trump and experienced a “profound sorrow” after Jan. 6.

“Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong. He is a small man pretending to be big. He is a faithless man pretending to be righteous. He’s a perpetrator who can’t stop playing the victim,” he said.