Illinois Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger rebuked President Donald J. Trump on Thursday after the commander-in-chief stated that Never Trump Republicans are "human scum." Kinzinger told CNN that his comments were inappropriate for anybody to say, let alone the office of the president.
"To call anybody human scum is beneath the office of the presidency. You can't say that, right? You're the president. You have different standards," Rep. Kinzinger told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Kinzinger is an Air Force Veteran and a high-ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee.
"Sometimes you'll hear people say, 'Well this congressman said this once' ... yeah, nobody should say anything like this," Kinzinger added, "...but I think there's a different level when you're the President of the United States. You have a different responsibility and that's why I'm outspoken about it."
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted, "The Never Trumper Republicans, though on respirators with not many left, are in certain ways worse and more dangerous for our Country than the Do Nothing Democrats. Watch out for them, they are human scum!"
Kinzinger stated that these kinds of comments may appease the base, but in the long run do not help solve problems.
"We need to just have conversations and I'm going to say this to my colleagues on my side and the other side of the aisle ... by calling names and screaming and yelling and demonstrating, you never win anybody to your side...You just make your base happy but you're not actually doing anything effective," Kinzinger told CNN.