Kinzinger urges Republican leaders to call out ‘garbage politicians’ who play on vaccine fears

by Caroline Vakil - 07/11/21 11:20 AM ET

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said that he wants House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and other leaders within the party to call out “garbage politicians” who are playing into fears of Americans who are hesitant or reluctant to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“A number of your Republican colleagues are expressing outrage over President Biden’s call for door-to-door outreach to encourage Americans to get vaccinated. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene compared those going door to door to Nazi brownshirts,” CNN host Jake Tapper said on “State of the Union.”

“Congresswoman Lauren Boebert called them needle Nazis. Senator Ted Cruz said it sounds to him like Soviet Russia. What’s your response to all that?” he asked.

“It’s — Jake, it’s insanity. It’s absolute insanity,” Kinzinger said on Sunday.

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger: “The vaccine is safe. Covid is real. Get vaccinated… I call on every leader in the Republican party to stand up, say ‘get vaccinated,’ and to call out these garbage politicians… playing on your vaccine fears for their own selfish gain.” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/LM6TDfGPqa

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) July 11, 2021

The Republican congressman admitted that the concept of doing door-to-door community level outreach as part of Biden’s initiative to make vaccines more accessible to Americans could have been phrased differently, but argued “at no point was anybody saying they’re going to break down your door and jam a vaccine in your arm, despite your protest.”

“I call on Leader McCarthy, I call on every leader in the Republican Party to stand up, say, get vaccinated, and to call out these garbage politicians, these absolute clown politicians playing on your vaccine fears for their own selfish gain,” Kinzinger said.

“This is outrage politics that is being played by my party, and it’s going to get Americans killed…Our party has been hijacked. My party has been hijacked. It is on its way to the ground,” Kinzinger said, adding that “if you are a Republican voter, do not listen to people like Marjorie Taylor Greene.”