Latest / The Kinzinger Report / The Exodus Begins | Republicans Flee Trump's Midterm Convention — September 3, 2026

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The Exodus Begins | Republicans Flee Trump's Midterm Convention — September 3, 2026 · The Kinzinger Report

• 0:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: I'm Adam Kinzinger, and you're listening to the Kinzinger Report, where I bring you top stories and analysis on current events and the growing threats to our democracy.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: After serving over a decade in Congress, I hope you know what's true and what really matters so that we can all work to save this country that we love so much.
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, everybody, it's Thursday.
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: Happy Thursday.
• 0:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thanks for being here.
• 0:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: Our top story today, the GOP Exodus has begun.
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: Trump built a first of its kind midterm convention in Dallas to put himself at the center of the campaign.
• 0:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: His own candidates are suddenly discovering scheduling conflicts.
• 0:49
  [SPEAKER_03]: Must be busy.
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: A political survey found that most of the...
• 0:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: more than 70 Republicans they asked to come are skipping it or won't say.
• 1:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: And it's not just the convention across the battleground districts Republican candidates are breaking with Trump.
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Not enough though.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: I will add that.
• 1:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's not get out of hand here.
• 1:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: We're also going to get into the hundreds of DHS agents hunting for voter fraud that doesn't exist.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: the whistleblower who says that ice handed out badges before finishing background checks, the federal judge who just blocked Trump's latest attack on birthright citizenship and the White House luring up for the midterm embarrassment that they know is coming.
• 1:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: So do me a favor, like this video, share it with someone who needs to see it, subscribe.
• 1:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: You never want to mess an episode.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: And I just want to say, we have been growing very steadily and quickly, so thank you for that.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: And please continue to help us as we've shown some of these stories actually get out there in the mainstream media, and so it's not just all of you watching, this is getting out.
• 1:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: in a very important way.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: So let's just get right to it anyway.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: We start in Dallas, so we're the Trumpest throwing himself a midterm party and his own candidates aren't coming.
• 2:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Even though they're invited, that's pathetic party.
• 2:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: Next week, the Republican Party will hold the first midterm convention in its history.
• 2:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: Why?
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, because Trump needed to be celebrated, that'll be two nights at the American Airlines Center, it's headlined by Trump and Vance.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: The idea is a televised spectacle putting Trump front and center 60 days before the election.
• 2:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is one problem, the candidates.
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: Politico surveyed more than 70 Republican candidates and members.
• 2:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: Most are either skipping Dallas or dodging the question at least 45 offered reasons.
• 2:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: Fundraisers, weddings, district events, even a dove hunt, some probably washing their hair.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: one house Republican called the whole thing quote a waste of time and a mess.
• 2:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: It doesn't help that the parties are asking attendees for five figure fees with donor photos with Trump going for $88,600 a piece.
• 3:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: Michigan's Tom Barrett was at least honest about it.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: I quote, I can't control what the president's going to say.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Okay.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Monta Raju from CNN asked some Republicans
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_06]: I think we've got to go to the Republican Convention next week.
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_06]: I'm planning to be in my district.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_06]: Are you going to the Republican Convention next week?
• 3:21
  [SPEAKER_06]: Are you going to the Republican Convention next week?
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: I have to be in the district because I have events.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: I would love to go.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: I was thinking about it.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to miss out on something important, but I cannot be into places at the same time.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: hilarious.
• 3:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: The New York Times reports that the members in the most competitive races are the one staying away.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_03]: The people who's careers depend on reading their voters correctly have decided that being seen with the president of their own parties is not good.
• 3:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's a liability.
• 3:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: Trump meanwhile is promising the opposite of distance.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Listen to this.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to get many of you people running and I'll be at every one of your state,
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm really going to be in particular interested in Congress and the Senate.
• 4:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love you, governors, but good luck, you know.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: For Canada down four points in a swing district, that is some very bad news, but this is the bad Republicans have made.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: They built the whole party around one guy and now the people trying to win elections can't get far enough away from him.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, it happens.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: Meanwhile, the administration is on the hunt for fraud when it should be looking in the mirror.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: The New York Times got hold of internal documents and training videos from DHS and here's what they show.
• 4:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hundreds of federal agents have been diverted to a desperate search for non-citizens on their voting rules.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: We've been through this before.
• 4:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: Red States conducted their own audience and found no evidence of widespread fraud, Utah found 13 fraudulent voters in a pool of 2 million, but this administration once federal agents to chase ghosts anyway.
• 5:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: We don't have anything else going on, so why not?
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: Not a war or anything like that, right?
• 5:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's not just the waste, though.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Their methods should bother you.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Agents are taking personal info like dates of birth, CNN, or social security numbers, that's the word.
• 5:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: Implugging them into state lookup websites.
• 5:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: In some cases, they're effectively posing as individual voters on portals that clearly state their met for the voter's own use.
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_03]: These are federal agents on government times 60 days before an election.
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: using your private information to scour the voting rules.
• 5:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: This desperate search is just one piece of the puzzle.
• 5:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: Just this week we've covered the US Postal Service report that says Trump's new mail voting system is built to fail.
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: And a county in Texas cutting a third of its polling places.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is very concerning, by the way.
• 5:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: Once again, fraud is simply an excuse to metal in the election, but the American people know
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: where the real fraudsters are.
• 6:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: The same day the times published those DHS documents, Gallup, released a poll on corruption.
• 6:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: 89% of Americans say corruption is widespread in their government.
• 6:11
  [SPEAKER_03]: That is the highest number that Gallup has recorded in two decades, up 10 points in a single year.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's 91% of Democrats, 90% of independence, and 83% of Republicans.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: On this one thing, Americans are pretty united.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: Those federal agents don't need social security numbers and voter databases to find fraud.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: All they need to do is take a trip to the White House and the American people know it.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: Speaking of federal agents, ice handed out the badge to just about anybody, and we've already seen the consequences.
• 6:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: Here we have another whistleblower report, this time from a career ice official.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_03]: He was a 17 year veteran of the agency who oversaw 100 employees that he knew applicants.
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: His job was quality control on one of the biggest federal hiring surges in memory.
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_03]: Ice is pushed to add 10,000 officers, according to him.
• 7:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: Meeting that goal meant an unprecedented lowering of standards.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_03]: His complaint describes systemic breakdowns that led to applicants getting jobs before they'd even pass basic fingerprint identity or credit checks.
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_03]: Political appointees dodged background investigations entirely and got national security credentials anyway.
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_03]: He warned that these failures expose the agency to grave national security risks.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: When he spoke to the times he's summed it up this way, we chose as an agency to be more convenient rather than thorough.
• 7:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Remember that this is the same agency that the Trump administration funneled tens of billions of dollars to.
• 7:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: But they don't have time for background checks, it's no wonder so many Americans think that the government is corrupt, it is.
• 7:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Even when those fast-tracked agents make a mistake, the administration covers for them.
• 7:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: Pro-Publica reported this week that leaders at the DOJ squashed civil rights charges against an ice agent who shot a Venezuelan man in the lake in January.
• 8:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: They did it over what sources called the strongest possible objections of the federal prosecutor on this case.
• 8:18
  [SPEAKER_03]: This wasn't a hard call either.
• 8:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: THS originally claimed the agents were ambushed but video evidence showed the story in the government's own words and it appeared to be false.
• 8:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: And the charges against the two men blamed were dropped.
• 8:33
  [SPEAKER_03]: detention is a mess too.
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that ICE hasn't paid outside medical providers for detainee care in nearly a year.
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_03]: Hospitals are owed millions and some detainees have been built directly for care that's supposed to be free.
• 8:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: Internal record show ICE itself called the situation an absolute emergency that could delay life-saving treatment.
• 8:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: Advocates have another name for it.
• 8:57
  [SPEAKER_03]: The death policy.
• 8:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: As usual, the administration doesn't want to live in reality, listen to their so-called borders are.
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Congress needs to do something.
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, sanctuary cities are sanctuary for criminals.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think most American people support what ISIS is doing.
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_03]: Most people support it.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: Sir, most people don't.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_03]: For Americans to respect the law, they have to respect law enforcement, and that's not.
• 9:22
  [SPEAKER_03]: easy when the federal government gives out badges like candy.
• 9:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: In this case, standards aren't just red tape, they're the difference between a police force and a Gestapo.
• 9:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: Over in the courts, the Constitution delivered Trump yet another loss.
• 9:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: Yesterday a federal judge in Maryland blocked Trump's newest attempt to limit birthright citizenship, which he has continually failed to achieve since he took office.
• 9:44
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let me provide some context for you.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: The 14th Amendment says that if you're born on American soil, you're an American citizen, really simple.
• 9:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: Trump tried to end that with an executive order on day one, in June the Supreme Court struck it down, but Trump wasn't done.
• 9:59
  [SPEAKER_03]: He came back with a narrower order in August, ordering that federal agents could not recognize the citizenship of certain American-born children.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: That includes the children of so-called alien enemies, foreign government workers, and anyone accused of birth
• 10:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: The judge wasn't impressed in a 35-page ruling.
• 10:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: She wrote that the new order is almost certainly unconstitutional.
• 10:23
  [SPEAKER_03]: She argued that the president has attempted to strip a right and shrine in the citizenship clause from American since January of 2025.
• 10:31
  [SPEAKER_03]: As the judge put it earlier in the case, he's trying to rewrite the carve outs.
• 10:35
  [SPEAKER_03]: to birthright citizenship with the strokes of a pen.
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: Her inject an injunction now protects every child in the certified class born since February of last year.
• 10:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: Do you notice the pattern though?
• 10:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: Every time the court's defied Trump, he rewrites the same order slightly narrower.
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_03]: He's buying time.
• 10:53
  [SPEAKER_03]: This is what he does in all of his court cases.
• 10:56
  [SPEAKER_03]: Court say no again.
• 10:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: Trump is nothing more than a toddler who hears no and just keeps.
• 11:02
  [SPEAKER_03]: asking a question hoping that the answer will change.
• 11:05
  [SPEAKER_03]: The strategy is exhaustion.
• 11:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: The constitution held yesterday as a held in June, but a right that has been re-litigated and has to be re-litigated every six months as a right under siege.
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: And the siege is exactly the point.
• 11:19
  [SPEAKER_03]: And finally, the White House is preparing for what it refuses to say out loud, losing.
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_03]: Politico reports that the legal office for the White House is building a worse case scenario strategy for a democratic house, even as the President remains publicly optimistic that his party will hold control.
• 11:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: At the center of its strategy, the Trump administration is pushing a sweeping claim of executive privilege.
• 11:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: This grants the president the power to keep certain communications secret and to resist subpoenas from the legislative and judicial branches.
• 11:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: Executive privilege is already right for abuse by an administration with this much to hide.
• 12:00
  [SPEAKER_03]: But Trump is going to go further.
• 12:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: He wants to extend the privilege beyond government officials to cover his relationships without ciders.
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_03]: Think of the private citizens who have dubiously influenced his decision, no doubt for personal game.
• 12:15
  [SPEAKER_03]: Adam Schaeff in the Senate Democrats responded by sending the White House Council a letter last week, demanding to know exactly who this privilege supposedly covers.
• 12:25
  [SPEAKER_03]: Their message is simple, Trump's privilege claim is not a shield from justice, not for him, and not for the people in this circle.
• 12:32
  [SPEAKER_03]: Corporate America's certainly concerned.
• 12:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: Remember Monday's story about how Trump donors are writing checks to Democrats?
• 12:39
  [SPEAKER_03]: The subpoenas are coming.
• 12:40
  [SPEAKER_03]: Every corporation knows it, every GOP politician knows it as well.
• 12:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: That apparently includes Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
• 12:48
  [SPEAKER_05]: Of course, we also have the midterm elections coming up and I ask the Senator about those and if he's concerned about losing the Republican majority in that chamber.
• 12:56
  [SPEAKER_04]: I worry about that, you know, for sure.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_04]: I'm a realist and I just thank you.
• 13:03
  [SPEAKER_04]: I don't ever try and sugarcoat things.
• 13:05
  [SPEAKER_04]: I think it's a competitive environment right now.
• 13:07
  [SPEAKER_03]: A competitive environment.
• 13:09
  [SPEAKER_03]: How about that for an understatement?
• 13:10
  [SPEAKER_03]: The cook political report just moved Iowa in Texas to Republican-held seats to toss-ups.
• 13:16
  [SPEAKER_03]: And that trend is only spreading all across the country.
• 13:20
  [SPEAKER_03]: Thun is now publicly begging Trump and his allies to dump resources into Texas, which is voted for Republican senators for the past 30 years.
• 13:29
  [SPEAKER_03]: When the congressional map runs through Texas, the environment isn't competitive.
• 13:34
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's a rescue mission.
• 13:36
  [SPEAKER_03]: And the Trump administration is sounding the alarm.
• 13:38
  [SPEAKER_03]: Not to save the GOP, to save themselves and their closest friends from what's coming.
• 13:45
  [SPEAKER_03]: Well, that's it.
• 13:46
  [SPEAKER_03]: For September 3rd, that's the show.
• 13:47
  [SPEAKER_03]: If this was worth your time, and I know it was, like it, share it with someone who needs to see it, subscribe.
• 13:54
  [SPEAKER_03]: Let's continue to grow this.
• 13:55
  [SPEAKER_03]: It's very, very important, and it's doing great work.
• 13:58
  [SPEAKER_03]: I thank you for being part of it, and I'll see you back here tomorrow.
• 14:01
  [SPEAKER_03]: Take care.