Rep. Adam Kinzinger has battled Trump and his fellow Republicans. In deep blue Illinois, could that be a strategy for higher office?

CHICAGO — When U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois was asked recently what it means to be a Republican in the era of President Donald Trump, the fifth-term congressman chuckled, then turned serious.

“I still hold that being a Republican in general means supporting national defense and smaller government. What does it mean today? I mean, in the state we’re in, I really don’t know,” Kinzinger said.

“This is a moment in which what used to be in is out and what used to be out is in. Really, (what) the Republican movement seems to be at the moment — and I think it’s momentary — is just kind of ‘own the libs, own the left,’” he said. “We’ve kind of become unmoored from that original view of conservatism.”

Kinzinger, 42, who represents a sprawling exurban and rural district that stretches from Rockford down to the Indiana border, has been virtually alone among members of his party in readily criticizing some of Trump’s most egregious statements and proposals on social media and in national cable newscasts.

He was the only one of the state’s five GOP members not named by the Trump campaign to co-chair his efforts in Illinois.

It got to the point that in early December, Kinzinger tweeted, “Time to delete your account” to the president after Trump delivered what he called the “most important speech” of his presidency, a 46-minute diatribe filled with baseless claims of election fraud in his Nov. 3 loss to former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden.

More recently, Kinzinger tweeted the day after Christmas that Trump and “other congressional grifters” touting efforts to challenge the Electoral College proclamation in Congress on Jan. 6 were part of a “scam” to raise money and gain followers even though they know they will be unsuccessful.

He accused Trump of “trying to burn the place down on the way out because you can’t handle losing” and throwing a “temper tantrum and crazy conspiracies.” He added “#RestoreOurGOP.”

Appearing on CNN last Sunday, Kinzinger said he fears that when Biden is inaugurated, Trump supporters will try to convince people that Congress and anti-Trump Republicans are to blame for failing to get the election results overturned.

Kinzinger has also mocked some of his GOP House colleagues as Trump sycophants.

When Trump met on Dec. 21 with Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Louie Gohmert of Texas, Mo Brooks of Alabama and Rep.-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia about possible ways to overturn Biden’s victory, Kinzinger weighed in with a tweet that called the gathering a “mutual admiration society meeting.”

Greene, a promoter of wild and widely dismissed conspiracy theories including those alleging secret government involvement in a child-sex ring, has responded to Kinzinger’s tweets with her own: “How does it feel to be quote tweeted with resounding approval by Democrats & Progressives while you call yourself ‘Republican’ & say #RestoreOurGOP? 75+ million ‘grifters’ know @realDonaldTrump’s election was stolen.”

Traditionally, Illinois Republicans who have had success statewide have been more centrist. Kinzinger’s willingness to take on his own party has prompted speculation that he is positioning himself for higher office — perhaps a run against Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker or Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth in 2022.

But Kinzinger, a former Air Force pilot and Iraq War veteran who still serves in the Air National Guard, said he’s “not doing this to set myself up to run statewide.”

“I’m not going to rule anything out. But it’s really not anything I’m planning,” he said.

Kinzinger was elected to the House in 2010, getting support from tea party groups in defeating Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson of Crete. His victory thrust him into rising-star status in the national Republican Party establishment.

To be sure, Kinzinger has voted in support of Trump-backed legislation more than 92% of the time, according to a vote tracker run by FiveThirtyEight.com.

But Kinzinger has sought to place the focus on his willingness to confront Trump’s divisive politics and the direction the president has taken the Republican Party as the nation’s political divisions continue to grow, fueled by social media.

“I really think the greatest threat to the country is the division in our politics right now. We can’t have grown-up discussions. Twitter isn’t real life, but it’s a glimpse of people unmasked and you see calls to violence. That’s frightening,” Kinzinger said.

“I wonder if we’re catching onto what’s happening with regards to social media and radicalization. I wonder if we’re catching on too late. Is the horse out of the barn? It’s not going to be something that is solved by politicians,” he said.

“I think we need to have a real look at the internet and consider, does this cross into yelling fire in a crowded theater versus free speech? There is a movement of people waking up to what’s happening. Is it big enough? I don’t know.”

His decision to take on Trump and the president’s congressional allies reflects not only the navigational skills, politically, of a pilot who flew five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also a bit of the ego and self-confidence required of such tasks.

“If you look at my election results, I outperformed Trump by like 13 points in my district,” said Kinzinger, who defeated Democrat Dani Brzozowski 65% to 35%.

“I think it still shows that people who maybe think I’m not supporting Trump enough, they do believe that I believe what I’m saying. And those who may not agree with my positions believe that I believe what I’m saying, and I still think that has some currency.”

So why are his colleagues so reluctant to call out the president? Self-preservation, he said, likening it to what he says is the biblical principle and “probably a philosophical principle, too, of, ‘The tighter you hold onto your life, the more apt you are to lose it.’”

“The idea is if you spend your whole life and just make money and take vitamins and stuff, what is really gained? I think it’s the same thing with politics, which is the tighter you hold onto this (philosophy of) ‘I absolutely must be reelected and so I’m going to tippy toe and placate one group and not the other,’” he said. “I think then you’re actually more likely to lose, but you’re definitely going to lose your purpose for why you started (as a public servant) in the first place.”

While he discounts Twitter as a source, he’s also well aware of its power as a communication tool.

“If I attack Trump, obviously then the masses on Twitter, which too many people think is reality, they’ll attack me,” he said. “And then if I turn around and support a strong border, which I believe in, then people will start tweeting, ‘Man, we thought you were different but you’re nothing more than a Trump bootlicker.’ I can handle that.”

As for the future of the Republican Party, he points to gains the GOP has made among African Americans and Latinos as a hopeful sign. At the same time, he also points to the failure of Republican efforts among younger people, a problem that he said could be “terminal” as they have turned against the GOP.

With a Democratic administration, a narrow Democratic majority in the House and a closely divided Senate, Kinzinger said he expects gridlock but also opportunity.

“Biden, there’ll be a lot I’ll disagree with him on, and I’m going to be fair and call him out. But Biden’s not a knee-jerk leftist, so for me I think the next two years there is an opportunity, such as working on infrastructure,” he said.

In 2022, Kinzinger faces a year in which Illinois’ congressional districts will be redrawn by Democrats to reflect the outcome of this year’s census — amid predictions that one or possibly two of the state’s 18 House seats will be eliminated.

In the 2012 redistricting, Kinzinger was mapped together with Republican U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, leading to a bitter contest that Kinzinger won.

If he’s mapped in with another Republican again, Kinzinger said it could have an impact on what he decides for his own political future. “But I’m telling you the honest-to-God’s truth, I’m just not worrying about it because it’s in God’s hands and the Democrats’. I’ll deal with what they give me.”

Still, he looks to 2022 as a potential Republican year in Illinois with an out-of-office Trump a vastly diminished electoral factor.

“If I think I can get through a primary and win, and I’d be good at the job, I’d certainly entertain whatever that is,” Kinzinger said.