Ex-GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger says House Republicans will be in 'survival mode' after the speaker tumult and the party will 'probably get its backside rightfully handed' to it in 2024

• Adam Kinzinger said Friday that the House GOP would be in "survival mode" after resolving their leadership woes.
• Kinzinger in the past has been a vocal critic of ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California.

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger has a tough message for his former colleagues now struggling to select a replacement for ousted ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy: buckle up.

During a Friday appearance with PBS NewsHour journalist Geoff Bennett in conjunction with Politics and Prose bookstore, Kinzinger was asked if House Republicans had the capacity to govern as a majority party.

His response: "I don't know."

"If they had maybe a 40, 50-vote majority, yeah, you can always minimize the bomb-throwers or the minority of a viewpoint," the Illinois Republican said. "I don't know in this current setup if they do."

House Republicans now have a narrow 221-212 majority, and over two weeks after McCarthy's ouster, neither Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio nor Steve Scalise of Louisiana were able to amass the 217 votes needed to secure the speakership. So the selection process for a new leader goes on.

And as Kinzinger noted in his interview, the United States faces a series of crises — both domestic and abroad — which require the full attention of Congress.

"I think we'll be lucky as a country to get through a government shutdown without having to shut it down," the former congressman said. "We'll be lucky as a country to get Israel and Ukraine aid on the floor and done."

"Ultimately, I think they will be able to govern to get those things done because the pressure will be too high," he continued, referencing House Republicans. "But in terms of pushing any Republican agenda per se, or really doing anything proactively for the country, no, I think the party is going to be in survival mode and frankly get its backside rightfully handed to it in the next election."

Kinzinger was elected to the House in the Tea Party wave of 2010, which brought a legion of conservatives looking to reform government. However, over a decade later, he emerged as a fierce critic of both former President Donald Trump and McCarthy.

After Republicans narrowly took the House majority last fall, Kinzinger — who was a prominent member of the House January 6 committee — predicted that the party would have a "totally nonfunctional majority" this year.

And Kinzinger also blasted McCarthy for what he said was the California Republican's capitulation to the Trump wing of the party.

"I used to be great friends with Kevin McCarthy," he said at the time. "He's been the biggest disappointment of my life."

Kinzinger's new book, "Renegade," is set to be released on October 31.