Democrats are all but guaranteed to ignore Adam Kinzinger’s warning about ‘falling into a GOP trap’

In the time since Adam Kinzinger emerged as a key critic of Donald Trump, he’s dished out some stellar advice.

Much of it was (somewhat sarcastically) aimed at the president himself, who could really use to take a few Kinzinger lessons to heart. As could Democrats, who’ve been floundering in their response to Trump’s increasingly concerning behavior. As he hands the reins of the country over to Elon Musk, Democrats are watching our government disappear before their very eyes, and it doesn’t seem like they’re doing much to stop it.

To be fair — but not too fair — to Democrats, they’re doing more behind the scenes than can be seen on the surface. Their protests to Trump’s Congressional remarks were lukewarm, at best, and their mild pushback to his concerning agenda feels like a massive under-reaction, but most people aren’t keeping track of the various measures — both legal and practical — Democrats are pursuing in hopes of tripping up the Trump Train.

Still, it seems to most of us — including former Representative Kinzinger — are at our limit where it comes to the Democratic response to Trump. With a few key exceptions, Congressional Democrats simply aren’t doing enough, and Kinzinger believes they’re setting themselves up for failure.

They’re also walking straight into a Republican trap, according to the former Republican representative. In an eight minute video posted to his Substack, the 47-year-old implored Democrats to vote against the incoming continuing resolution, which will keep the government funded for the next few months.

In the midst of a handy explanation of how a continuing resolution makes its way through Congress, Kinzinger explained how bad this method of governing is for various departments, including the Department of Defense. It muddies up the system, according to Kinzinger, and stalls progress, but that’s not even the worst of it.

Emergency Video: Dems are falling into GOP trap, plus all about what is happening in the Govt funding fight, and how dems can push back. This is your one chance to have some DOGE accountability, and on Ukraine. (link to full video in reply) pic.twitter.com/xpYn7DIAJy

— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇮🇱 (@AdamKinzinger) March 11, 2025

The real issue, in Kinzinger’s mind, is the Democratic issue with messaging. While he understands why his fellow statesman talk a big game about avoiding a government shutdown, it also opens the door for blame slinging — a practice Republicans have perfected over the years. Instead, he thinks Democrats should avoid taking any kind of responsibility where government shutdowns are concerned, which would force Republicans to actually do something.

By wielding “the power of the purse,” Kinzinger advises that Democrats could retake some small measure of power, and shift the overarching narrative that currently dominates government shutdown conversations. All of which brings the former Congressman to his main message to Democrats, as he pleads with them to avoid taking blame for the possible shutdown.

“You don’t own this government shutdown, but I guarantee you, if it happens, the Republicans will spend 90% of their messaging effort pinning this on you,” he said, adding that they’ll likely be successful, because “Democrats are not very good at messaging right now.”

Which could land Congressional Democrats with all the blame for the shutdown, despite the fact that Republicans currently control every body of government. All Democrats need to do is fix their messaging, and ensure that responsibility for the shutdown falls where it should.

“Message it clearly, this is the Republicans problem — this is not the Democrats problem. If we go into a shutdown, its because they can’t get their own House in order,” he said, to finish his video. “If they really want our help that’s fine — come to the table and talk to us.”