Rep. Kinzinger says the Party of Defense and Security will not be “Trumped”

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adam kinzinger photo Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) says Donald Trump’s foreign policy suggestion “to get out of the rest of the world” is narcissistic and dangerous.

“The people like me in my party that believe like I do are not going to change our philosophy,” said Rep. Kinzinger at the Hudson Institute on May 26, 2016. “Just because our frontrunner may be an isolationist doesn’t mean that I’m ever going to become one.”

Trump has previously proposed to end America’s overseas commitments with Japan and Korea, to reduce international trade, and to step away from nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan. This atypical foreign policy agenda for a Republican candidate has many questioning whether his plans will really “Make America Great Again.”

“By us being engaged in the world, we are helping ourselves,” said Rep. Kinzinger. “I don’t think we have a right or an ability to withdraw from the world.”

As a veteran of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kinzinger did not hesitate to address his passionate belief in America’s role in the world.

“I think when our country was created, when it was thought of, we were created with a unique mission…which is to be an example of self-governance to a world that’s drowning in chaos and strongmen and poverty,” said Rep. Kinzinger.

While touching on the Syrian refugee crisis, Rep. Kinzinger encouraged politicians to end their reticence in order to find solutions to the problem. He disclaimed the current political dialogue against US foreign aid in the Middle East and warned of destructive consequences if America fails to engage.

“This is not a house that’s on fire where someday… a few embers are burning, and the house is gone,” said Kinzinger about the turmoil in the Middle East. “This is a fire in an apartment complex, and you have one apartment on fire right now. And if you stand back and watch it happen and don’t act, it’ll spread to the next apartment, and then the next building, and the whole region will burn down.”

Although he believes the military has to be ready to fight forcefully against ISIS and the Assad regime, Kinzinger said the US will only be able to solve the problem of radicalization with ideas, rather than guns. He says the way to squelch the next generation of terror is to ensure people have an education.

“When you subject children to not being able to read and write, not understanding the bigger world out there, they can easily be whispered into walking into a café with a bomb on them and blowing themselves up.”

Rep. Kinzinger admits that although the Republicans may be losing the edge of defense and security now, he does not see the loss of that edge as permanent.

Photo by Talk Radio News Service