Rep. Adam Kinzinger slams House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's leadership in GOP, says somehow 'the crueler you are, the more likely you are to win a primary'

• GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Sunday criticized House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy, saying the GOP has "no leadership."
• "Somehow, in the Republican party, the crueler you are, the more likely you are to win a primary," he said.

GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Sunday criticized House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy, saying that the GOP lacks leadership.

"I think Republicans are in some real trouble because we have no leadership, this is a problem," Kinzinger said on NBC's "Meet The Press." "Kevin Mcarthy isn't leading. He's asking what does Marjorie Taylor Greene want me to do. Mitch McConnell is just trying to save the Senate. He is probably not going to do that."

Kinzinger, who will leave Congress after this session, has been a vocal critic of his party while also drawing the ire of former President Donald Trump by calling out his false claims of election fraud and being one of the few Republicans participating in the January 6 investigation.

The Illinois congressman has repeatedly criticized the Republican party under Trump's influence.

"It's not the party I ever joined. It's around a person, and it's kind of creepy to be honest with you," Kinzinger said earlier this month.

Kinzinger on Sunday also pointed to the Republican party's shifted stance on abortion post-Roe v. Wade, pushing for bans without exceptions.

"I've always taken the position of rape, incest, life of the mother, and, you know, certain weeks up until 15 weeks or whatever," Kinzinger said. "And that was actually a fairly common thing in the Republican Party. Even Donald Trump said, 'Rape, incest, life of the mother exceptions.'

"And now you've been seeing these Republicans go, 'There is absolutely no exception,' because somehow in the Republican party the crueler you are, the more likely you are to win a primary."

Kinzinger attributed the lack of leadership resulted in his party believing in whatever former President Donald Trump said.

"We have no leaders. And no wonder our base basically believes everything Donald Trump says," Kinzinger said.

Though Trump has not announced his official plans, reports say he plans to run for in 2024. McCarthy previously said he encouraged Trump to hold his announcement until after the 2022 midterms in November.