Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois, like any current Republican House member who wants to stay in office, has to walk a precarious tightrope between pro-Trump and anti-Trump factions in the Republican Party. Kinzinger has jumped off the rope.

If you have the backup, like Liz Cheney in Wyoming, you can go full anti-Trump. If you don’t you play it smart, like Nikki Haley, who so far is still successfully balancing herself on the tightrope. The Trump types aren’t thrilled with her. But they don’t outright loathe her as they do Cheney. What you don’t do is aggressively bounce off the tightrope when there are vultures ready to strike at you as you lay on the ground. That seems to be what Kinzinger has done.

He has gone full bore anti-Trump when the party as a whole and his district party have not gone with him. Points for guts and principles. But those are usually not the coin of the realm in politics. Someone else has realized that and may very likely make Kinzinger pay for it. Meet Catalina Lauf.

She is a gorgeous young former Trump staffer who is acting as the vulture noted above in this scenario. She may not be the only bird hovering over the prospective carrion. But getting out first and with probable Trump support makes her the big bird.

FNC: “Just weeks after voting in support of the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump, U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., is already facing a pro-Trump GOP primary challenger. His opponent? Catalina Lauf, a 27-year-old who previously served in the Trump administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. She launched her bid Tuesday to oust the 42-year-old incumbent in Illinois’ 16th Congressional District.”

“I never thought I’d primary a fellow Republican, but is Congressman Kinzinger really a Republican anymore? He isn’t and we have the proof,” Lauf says in her campaign announcement. She attacks Kinzinger as a “weak-kneed, establishment Republican” who “cares more about his next MSNBC appearance than the voters who elected him.”

She says Kinzinger doesn’t support “America First”, referencing his “one in three votes” in Congress that have sided with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Instead of being in our fight, Adam betrayed his constituents for a life in the D.C. swamp.” Nice to know they’re on a first name basis.

Fake Republican Adam Kinzinger won’t put AMERICA FIRST— I will.

That’s why I’m challenging him for his seat in Congress

I am the daughter of LEGAL immigrants, a small business owner, & PROUDLY served in the Trump administration.

Let’s send Adam home! —> https://t.co/ZXSUw3X0VU pic.twitter.com/l34fqh9Fi5

— Catalina Lauf (@CatalinaLauf) February 23, 2021

“He said impeachment was ‘necessary to save America.’ What? You know what I think is necessary to save America, Adam? Setting term limits for people like you and the rest of your friends out. Six terms in Congress is enough.” One wonders, if elected, will Lauf be as happy with term limits as she says she is now? Doubtful. With her looks and pro-Trump message in a pro-Trump party, she has got to be the smart money right now. But in politics a day can be an eternity. Thus by 2022 things can change. A lot.

This piece was written by David Kamioner on February 26, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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