Congressman Kinzinger, welcome
to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
Thanks. Good to be with you.
So first questions first.
Where do people go to find a new family?
Because you were famously thrust into the news
when your family wrote you a letter,
not only saying that you had betrayed Donald Trump
and you had betrayed them, but you had joined the devil's army.
Quite a letter to get from some of your family members.
Yeah, it was a little surprising, you know, and, uh...
But, so, I look at it and say, "Look, I have a great family."
Some closer than... You know, may disagree with me,
that aren't gonna send me a devil's army conscription form.
But, uh, yeah, it was pretty crazy.
But I'm glad it got out there. I didn't release it.
She sent it so far and wide, actually that it...
the reporter was able to find it.
But you know, it kind of shows people
what's going on in families today.
But your own family thinks
that you have betrayed Donald Trump,
and you are betraying the Republican Party,
by saying that Donald Trump didn't,
in fact, win the election,
and there was no giant steal, AKA the big lie.
If a Republican cannot convince his Republican family
of these things, what hope is there for America?
Well, I do think there's hope, and if you think about it,
look at how long it took to really go from...
When Donald Trump announced, he came down the escalator,
he had, like, ten percent support.
Everybody thought he was a joke, and then,
over time, when he was talking, he eventually kind of led
to this movement that we have.
So it's gonna take some time to pull people out of that.
But I think, up to this point,
we've had no competing narrative.
You know, if you don't hear anybody saying,
the election wasn't stolen, and 74 million people
that voted for Trump weren't disenfranchised;
they were just outnumbered,
until somebody says that aggressively,
you're gonna believe it.
And that's what's important right now,
is just to tell people the truth.
You know, there's this culture war brewing here
where it's all about owning the other side,
and I still want to go out and fight for principles.
And that's where I think the pivot needs to happen
that's actually gonna save, not just the Republican Party,
but the country, is if we actually start talking
about policy, principle again,
how to bring people up from poverty,
you know, what defending the country means.
Those are the kinds of things that I think
Americans are actually desperate for.
They're just not the loudest ones tweeting.
When we look at that now, I mean,
America is going through one of its toughest periods.
I mean, the world is.
We've never seen anything like it.
Um, Joe Biden is trying
to pass his $1.9 trillion relief bill for COVID.
There's been a lot of back-and-forth on this.
You are a Congress person. I would love to know,
from your perspective, why you're opposed
to Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion plan.
Yeah, look, there was... there was no effort to reach out.
I never had a conversation with anybody
in the White House about it.
No effort to say, "What does it take to bring you on board?"
I'm desperate to have a compromise on this,
and I'm hoping that when it comes back from the Senate,
there'll be some changes, actually making sure
that we're giving the amount of money that these states need,
and not just writing a blank check,
and that some of the money towards, uh, education,
for instance, is actually done this year.
A lot of it's next year. And there actually needs
to be more money for-for medicine and research.
So, look, I'm one of the ones that's eager
to say, "Let's do this. Let's work on things together."
And that we both just have to be willing to do it.
And so, I'm not gonna blame, you know, the president
for not reaching out to Republicans.
They make a decision.
But I do think if somehow it gets blocked up
in the Senate, we have an opportunity to get this done.
The bill has quite a few proposals.
It touches on everything, from, you know,
raising the minimum wage,
which is now probably out of the conversation,
you know, to getting funding to people who work in restaurants
and bars, and making sure that people get vaccinated
and providing PPP, et cetera.
What would you change in that bill?
What do you think it's missing
if they had come and spoken to you?
Gee, I don't know if it's missing anything.
I do think we can come to a compromise
on the minimum wage, for instance.
Like, I'm for increasing the minimum wage.
I just think doing it at this moment right to 15 bucks,
you know, over a short period when businesses are struggling
is the wrong time.
So I would like to see an increase.
But on things like opening schools,
there's over $300 billion that goes to that,
but most of it doesn't go in until next year.
And you look at things like vaccine researches
for the future,
you look at things like helping hospitals now,
and then the fact, you know, Illinois, for instance,
which has had this huge systemic problem
of fiscal mismanagement, just gets a ton of money
from the federal government.
I want that to be more based on need
instead of just based on number.
When you look at that, though, America has a history
of underpreparing for these situations.
You know, if you go back, every time there's, like,
a stimulus bill, every time it falls short of the mark.
And in hindsight, economists go, "Aw,
"we just didn't spend enough money.
We didn’t give the people enough money."
I mean, 70% of Americans are saying, "We want this bill.
We want these checks. We need this help."
Don't you think it's better to err on the side of caution
and just go like, "Well, let's maybe overspend,
"but let's get the economy going
"and let's get people out of their houses
and let's get people eating again."
Yeah, look, I think it's a good point to make,
and I think, you know, for the last year
we've been doing that.
There have been a lot of pretty sizable amounts of money
we've been spending on things
like the Payroll Protection Program, et cetera.
But look, if you want to reach out to me for that output,
I'm happy to chat with the administration about it,
but they didn't, and the numbers I saw were like,
hey, yeah, we're gonna spend a lot of money,
but we still have to understand what we're doing with it,
because this money has to be paid back at some point.
So again, my hope is, with the Senate,
you know, if it hits a bottleneck there
we can have an opportunity for bipartisan.
And I'm still eager on bipartisan things,
like infrastructure going forward,
'cause this country deserves people
that can have a conversation, like you and I are,
on this issue without just hating each other.
Uh, my personal opinion has been that, you know,
I think the two-party system will, in some way, shape or form
end up destroying America.
That's my personal view, because think it doesn't give people
enough room to be more than just one of two sides.
I don't think there's two sides to anything.
Right now, though, the Republican Party's
in an interesting place.
Are you a conservative, and do you have these beliefs?
Or do you raise a flag that says "Donald Trump"?
And it feels like more Republicans are saying,
"Forget Republican, we are Trump."
Where do you then go from there?
Yeah, so that's what the battle is right now,
and I think that's gonna be... (audio breaking up)
...over the summer.
I think Donald Trump is gonna continue to be lessened
as every day goes on, because Americans, we have a...
we don't always solve challenges,
but we move on from them, and we move on to the next president.
So that's why I started country1st.com,
with a 1-S-T, it's just, like, especially for Republicans,
Independents, and even Democrats say,
we need a healthy Republican Party
to have a place to go to fight for the narrative
of the Republican Party, 'cause I'll tell you what,
the two-party system won't destroy the country
if you have a healthy opportunity for debate
and an open tent.
We should have people that disagree
in the Republican Party, as the Democrats do in their party.
Well, um, you are in for the ride of your life.
It is gonna be extremely vicious.
It is going to be, um... extreme,
as you've seen from within your own family.
And so, uh, we'll be watching, and, um, yeah, good luck to you
-versus Donald Trump. -Thank you. Well, you know what?
Some things you got to put it all on the line for,
-and I'm willing to. -I hear you there.
-Thank you so much for taking the time, Congressman. -You bet.