Former GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger has been warning for years about what another Trump presidency might look like. But even he didn’t think it would be this bad.
“It’s way worse than anything I could’ve imagined,” he told Katie Couric in a new interview for her podcast, Next Question. “I was trying to warn the Democrats basically between Trump’s victory and inauguration day — like, you guys need to get your ducks in a row.”
Looking back, he’s still frustrated by how unprepared Congress was in those crucial early days. “One of my biggest frustrations — and I think it’s why so many Democrats are angry now — is that Trump gets inaugurated, DOGE is created out of thin air, and then Congress goes on recess. Democrats just went home,” he said. “And all this stuff started happening without any organized opposition. It was infuriating.”
For Kinzinger, it wasn’t just chaos — it was predictable. “We told you this was coming. It’s Project 2025. The playbook was already out there.”
Kinzinger became a household name for his break with Trump after the January 6th attack on the Capitol. He was one of just 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection, and he later served on the House committee investigating it. That decision sparked fierce backlash from his own party — the Republican National Committee censured him, and his family received threats.
Eventually, that pressure, among other factors, led him to step down from Congress. (His term ended in 2023.) Though he still considers himself a Republican, he admitted to voting straight-ticket Democrat in the last two elections. He jokingly calls himself a “proud RHINO” — a twist on the insult “RINO,” or “Republican In Name Only.”
Kinzinger tells Katie that most Republicans are still afraid to speak out. “They’re frozen in fear,” he said. “We forget — Trump’s been in the system for about 10 years now. In that time, they’ve pushed out anyone with independent thought, anyone with courage, anyone willing to tell the truth. What’s left is a party shaped in his image — a kind of cult.”
Despite the party’s continued loyalty to Trump, Kinzinger sees glimmers of hope. He praised Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski as “one of the shining stars” in the GOP — someone, he said, “who’s willing to tell the truth and vote her conscience.” He also applauded Reps. Don Bacon and Brian Fitzpatrick for their “very aggressive” support of Ukraine.
For more of Kinzinger’s take on the second Trump administration — including his thoughts on the ongoing immigration crackdown and the fallout from Trump’s tariff policies — watch the full interview above.
