RRepublican Adam Kinzinger – a former U.S. House member from Illinois who became a fierce critic of Donald Trump after the former president claimed the 2020 election was stolen and encouraged a mob to storm the Capitol – took the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday to explain why he is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris in November and to encourage his Republican colleagues who want to “defend democracy and decency” to do the same.
Read more: At the DNC, Republican Adam Kinzinger said Trump had suffocated “the soul” of the GOP
The following transcript was created by Rev using AI-powered software and submitted to TIME. It was then reviewed and edited for accuracy by TIME staff.
I’m Adam Kinzinger and I’m proud to be in the trenches with you, as part of this sometimes difficult alliance we form to defend truth, democracy and decency.
I was just a child when I was drawn to the party of Ronald Reagan, to his vision of a strong America, the shining city on a hill. I was a Republican in Congress for twelve years and still cling to that label.
I never thought I’d be here. But listen, you never thought you’d see me here, did you?
But I’ve learned something about the Democratic Party, and I want to let my Republican colleagues in on this secret: Democrats are as patriotic as we are. They love this country as much as we do. And they are as zealous about defending American values at home and abroad as we conservatives have ever been.
I was relieved to find this out, because I also learned something about my party, something I couldn’t ignore: The Republican Party is no longer conservative. It has shifted its loyalty from the principles that gave it meaning to a man whose only meaning is himself.
Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong. He’s a small man pretending to be big. He’s a treacherous man pretending to be righteous. He’s an abuser who can’t stop playing the victim. He puts on quite a show – listen – but there’s no real strength there.
As a conservative and a veteran, I believe that true strength is found in defending the weak. It’s about protecting your family. It’s about standing up for our Constitution and our democracy. That – that’s the soul of a conservative. It was once the soul of a Republican. But Donald Trump has smothered the soul of the Republican Party. His fundamental weakness has gripped my party like a disease, sapping our strength, breaking our backs, whipping us into a fever that has separated us from our values.
Our democracy was shaken by the events of January 6, when Donald Trump’s fraud and disgrace led to the siege of the United States Capitol. On that day, I witnessed a profound pain: the desecration of our sacred tradition of the peaceful transition of power, tainted by a man too fragile, too vain, too weak to accept defeat.
How can a party claim to be patriotic when it idolizes a man who tried to overturn a free and fair election? How can a party claim to stand for freedom when it sees a battle for freedom in Ukraine — an attack pitting tyranny against democracy, a challenge to everything our nation claims to be — and it backs down, it equivocates, it nominates a man who is oddly obsessed with Putin and his running mate who said, “I don’t care what happens in Ukraine”? And yet he wants to be vice president, yes. How can a party claim to be conservative when it besmirches the gifts our forefathers fought for — men like my grandfather, who served in World War II, who believed in a cause bigger than himself, and who risked his life behind enemy lines for it? To preserve American democracy, his generation found the courage to stand up to armies. Listen, all that is asked of us is to have the courage to stand up to a weak man.
Some have asked me why I take this position. The answer is very simple, ladies and gentlemen: we must put the country first.
And tonight, as a Republican speaking before you, I put our country first.
Because the fact is, I belong here. I know that Kamala Harris shares my loyalty to the rule of law, the Constitution, and democracy, and is committed to all three in the service of our country. Whatever political principles we espouse pale in comparison to these fundamental principles, decency, and loyalty to this nation.
Listen, fellow Republicans, if you still pledge allegiance to these principles, you’re probably in the right place. Because democracy has no party. It is a living ideal that defines us as a nation. It is the foundation that separates us from tyranny. And when that foundation breaks, we must all stand together to strengthen it.
If you think these principles are worth defending, then I urge you to make the right choice. Vote. Vote for our core values. And vote for Kamala Harris.
God bless you.
