Republican Adam Kinzinger has stated that he “would love” to pursue the White House in 2024. He also admits that he expects he would be “crushed” by Donald Trump, should the former president choose to seek the nomination again. Kinzinger is one of the most bitterly anti-Trump figures in the Republican Party and is leaving the House of Representatives at the end of his current term, partly because he understands that most Republicans have ceased to view him as one of their own.
Adam Kinzinger happy to be “crushed” by Trump in 2024
If Adam Kinzinger’s desire to challenge Donald Trump for the GOP nomination in 2024 sounds masochistic, it should.
The Illinois representative understands that he would be crushed in a 2024 race against any candidate, particularly Trump, but in some ways this would be the culmination of a brand he has been cultivating over the last year.
There is no real demand for a Kinzinger type Republican within the party, but Democrats would adore him for making the attempt in 2024 anyway.
At the moment his name doesn’t even appear in polls of potential nominees. Every poll of Republican voters predicts a landslide primary victory for Donald Trump should he decide to run.
That’s fine for Kinzinger, who makes no attempt to pretend that his hypothetical 2024 run would be for anything other than his image as Trump’s most implacable Republican opponent.
There is a real market for this kind of performance amongst Democrats who like to imagine that there is a bipartisan front allied with Biden against Trump, but few Republican voters are interested.
Republican voters aren’t interested
Even in his home district Kinzinger knows that he would struggle to be reelected in 2022, something he has already preempted with his retirement from the House.
A run for the Senate would be just as quixotic, but Adam Kinzinger’s desire for punishment only becomes worthwhile if it happens on a grander stage.
One of the problems encountered by Republicans who have embraced the rabidly anti-Trump position is the fact that there is no real room to carve out an alternative space in the GOP that might still offer a future in the party.
Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and others of their type can find a wildly enthusiastic audience, but only if they expand their animosity to Trump into a general animosity towards Republicans.
Few, if any, Republicans are capable of branding themselves primarily as anti-Trump without selling their souls to become cheerleaders for Biden in the process.
In his own mind, a 2024 run for Kinzinger would be a triumphant blow to Trump’s ego and a rallying cry for anti-Trump Republicans. In reality, it isn’t likely to attract much notice in an election that is already expected to be centered on Trump.
