
<p>No … the headline is not a reference to a law firm. ; It refers to soon-to-be-former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger and former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh.</p>



<p>Kinzinger maintains his Republican identity – largely because the label is being inappropriately used to give Speaker Pelosi’s Capitol Hill riot Committee a false appearance of bipartisanship. ; Pelosi did not name him to the Committee to represent a Republican view or a counterpoint to her scripted narrative and pre-ordained outcome.</p>



<p>Kinzinger ran for Congress from a conservative Republican district – espousing mostly conservative Republican values. ; However, he was not a hardline conservative. ; He was more malleable to the political zeitgeist of the moment.</p>



<p>Once in Congress, Kinzinger evolved away from many of the conservative positions he espoused in the campaign. ; Trump-hatred pushed him over the edge. ; He saw his power, fame, and financial fortunes best served as a leading GOP apostate for the political left. ; He became a whore for what he once claimed to abhor. ; ;</p>



<p>Joe Walsh made his claim to more limited fame as a theatrical loudmouth name-calling table-pounding strident conservative on a D-battery radio station. ; He has a well-known pronounced craving for the spotlight. In a sense, he is a mini-Trump. ; It got him enough local attention to land him in Congress for one term. ; Whether you approved of Walsh’s style or not, you had to admit that he was firm believer in conservative ideology. ; He was a proselytizer of the first rank. ;</p>



<p>Walsh started abandoning his conservative values in the latter half of the Trump administration – when he decided to run for President against Trump. ; Really! ; ;</p>



<p>He has since done at least one intellectually honest thing. ; He officially left the Republican Party. ; That move has rewarded him with the thing he values above all – the spotlight. ; He now derives exposure and wealth as one of those analysts … contributors … pundits you see on the hardline left-wing cable shows.</p>



<p>The remarkable thing about both of these characters is that they have not only become harsh critics of Donald Trump, but they have totally abandoned the fundamental political philosophy they used to gain their initial fame, power and wealth. ; That means they were never the conservatives they once claimed to be. ; Rather, they took on that mantle as a pragmatic means to advance their personal career at that time.</p>



<p>I can understand folks who do not like Trump as a person &#8212; good conservatives who prefer that he not be returned to the Oval Office. ; Conservatives voted for him only because they were left with a binary choice between a flawed Republican who would advance a generally more conservative agenda and Democrats who are the antithesis of conservative values. ; It is the policies that matter most.</p>



<p>Principled conservatives can have differences over personalities but remain bonded by a political belief system. ; But not to folks like Kinzinger and Walsh. ; Their lust for personal aggrandizement trumps any commitment to core moral or philosophic values. ; ;</p>



<p>Of the number of political apostates serving the interests of left-wing Democrats, I picked out Kinzinger and Walsh because I have known them both personally. ; Ironically, they both appeared on the same MSNBC morning show today to heap their venom on all that is conservative – not just Trump. ; ;</p>



<p>They both come from the same region of Illinois. ; I managed the primary campaign of a friend, Henry Meers – Kinzinger’s opponent in that first GOP primary.  ; Walsh and I were allies in conservative activism. ; During a pre-Covid visit to Florida, I had breakfast with him and his wife. ; At that time, he was still the harsh talking conservative supporter of Trump. ; ;</p>



<p>Walsh’s leap to the left surprised me and his friends more than Kinzinger’s since the latter never seemed fully rooted in conservative ideology. ; Kinzinger evolved. ; Walsh leap-frogged from one extreme to the other. ;</p>



<p>Do Kinzinger and Walsh actually believe the things they now espouse? ; Based on their ability to shift from one extreme to the other, I doubt it. ; They are devoid of a core belief. ; Just seeking out whatever path satisfies their ego – their lust for attention.</p>



<p>However, they may become the ultimate losers. ; Those who allow themselves to be conveniently used by those they once condemned are often kicked to the curb when their utility has ended. ; Kinzinger and Walsh deserve nothing less.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

What happened to Kinzinger and Walsh?
