What do you do when the political party you’ve idolized since childhood crosses a red line and you cannot follow?
Former US congressman Adam Kinzinger explains his choice in “The Last Republican,” a new documentary that traces the Illinois lawmaker’s journey from war hero and party darling to Never Trumper and Capitol Hill pariah.
The movie, which premiered at the Toronto film festival, is directed by Steve Pink, the man behind “Hot Tub Time Machine,” which happens to be Kinzinger’s favorite movie. He is also an avowed left-winger.
“Here was a guy from my home state whose political views I deeply opposed, but who sacrificed his career, friends, and even family members over his decision to call out Donald Trump,” Pink told AFP in an interview by email.
“I wanted to tell a story about a fairly normal guy amidst extraordinary circumstances.”
For Kinzinger, the red line came on January 6, 2021 — the day Trump supporters stormed the seat of Congress in a deadly show of defiance over what they saw as an election stolen from their candidate by Joe Biden.
After key Republican figures condemned Trump’s actions in the immediate aftermath, the tide shifted.
Kinzinger says he could not fathom how his colleagues fell in line so quickly.
“In that moment, I felt very isolated,” he says in the film.
He voted to impeach Trump — one of only 10 Republicans to do so — and sat on the Democratic-run special committee into the events of January 6, along with fellow Republican Liz Cheney.
On the first day of the film shoot, Kinzinger learned the boundaries of his congressional district had been redrawn — and he would likely lose in his next party primary.
So the six-term congressman opted not to run for reelection.
Pink follows Kinzinger into committee hearings, and plays audio of the vile death threats he received at his office. He shows Kinzinger and his wife welcoming their first child, and members of the congressman’s family publicly disavowing him.
Kinzinger, who is now 46, offers a stark assessment of a political party he once revered.
“I haven’t been the one that’s changed. The Republican Party has changed,” Kinzinger says. “I really don’t believe that what I did was courageous. I think it’s just I’m surrounded by cowards.”
Long after filming ended, at last month’s Democratic National Convention, Kinzinger endorsed Kamala Harris over Trump ahead of the November 5 presidential election.
“Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party,” he said to cheers in Chicago.
“His fundamental weakness has coursed through my party like an illness, sapping our strength, softening our spine, whipping us into a fever that has untethered us from our values.”
Pink says he hopes his film will help continue “the conversation about the importance of maintaining relationships with those who hold fundamentally different views than yourself.”
The Toronto International Film Festival runs through Sunday.
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