Rep. Adam Kinzinger says a new US civil war is a 'possibility' after RNC censures him for investigating the Capitol riot
- GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger warned of the "possibility" of a US civil war.
- "We're separating ourselves and we live in different realities," Kinzinger said.
GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois warned that the US could enter another civil war while discussing the country's partisan division and his censure by the Republican National Committee for taking part in the House January 6 commission.
Speaking on ABC News' "The View" on Thursday, Kinzinger said "we have to recognize" the prospect of civil war, adding: "I don't think it's too far of a bridge to think that's a possibility."
"We're identifying now by our race, by our ethnic group, we're separating ourselves and we live in different realities," Kinzinger said. "And I think we have to warn and talk about it so that we can recognize that and fight hard against it and put our country over our parties, because our survival actually matters."
"In the past, I've said, oh, we don't want to talk about it, because I don't want to make it likely," Kinzinger said of a civil war. "Well, let's look at where we are."
He said such a conflict would not take the same form as it did in the 1860s, with pitched battles between armies.
Instead, he said: "It's going to be armed groups against armed groups, targeted assassination and violence. That's what a 21st and 20th century civil war is."
Kinzinger was addressing the growing divisions in his own party between Republicans who have taken a stand against former President Donald Trump and his role in inciting the Capitol riot, and those seeking to whitewash the violence and punish Trump critics.
Last week the RNC censured Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney, the two Republicans sitting on the House commission investigating Jan 6, and described the riot as "legitimate political discourse."
Earlier in the interview, Kinzinger said he was saddened by the current state of the GOP.
"A once great party, a party that stood for something, stood for principles, whether you agree with those principles or not, is now a party that stands for loyalty to one man, that was clear in the RNC censure, and that's what makes me sad more than anything," he said.
The belief that the US could descend into civil war was once regarded as unthinkable, but is now being discussed with increasing concern in some quarters.
In a December Washington post op-ed, three retired US general warned that another attempt to overturn an election — as Trump did after losing to Biden in 2020 — "could lead to civil war."