“If you’re going to talk about the decline of the GOP, of which I was a part of, to say I played a role in that. I recognize that you play with fire a little bit because it’s great at fundraising, you can get people fired up, or you don’t speak out.

I spoke out a lot as a Republican congressman, but not as much as I should have. I voted against the first [Trump] impeachment out of complete cowardice and it’s the one thing I recognize and admit. All this pressure came in that said you can’t vote for this impeachment. In my soul, I thought he tried to manipulate Ukraine for political stuff, but I found a technicality, which was the speed at which the impeachment was happening. I found that technicality and saw my way out.

For us to come back from this dark moment we’re in, people have to recognize the role they played and commit to playing a role to defend this country and democracy.” - Adam Kinzinger