The wife of former Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger scolded Fox News host Laura Ingraham on social media on Friday for the “hypocrisy” of her complaining that MSNBC was not airing former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s recent speech.
On Friday, Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, the GOP presidential nominee. Later that night, he joined Trump at a campaign rally in Glendale, Arizona.
During his speech, Kennedy Jr. mentioned the issues that he and Trump agree on such as “having safe food and ending the chronic disease epidemic,” ending the Russia-Ukraine war, free speech and rebuilding the middle class.
“Don’t you want a President who’s going to protect America’s freedoms and protect us against totalitarianism? I want to ask you again: don’t you want a safe environment for your children?” Kennedy Jr. asked the crowd in Glendale.
On Friday night, Ingraham wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “MSNBC is not carrying the Trump speech in Arizona where RFK Jr is speaking. Instead they were talking about ‘toxic masculinity.’ RIP, journalism.”
MSNBC is not carrying the Trump speech in Arizona where RFK Jr is speaking. Instead they were talking about “toxic masculinity.” RIP, journalism.
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) August 23, 2024
Ingraham was referencing Friday night’s episode of The ReidOut with Joy Reid, which aired at the same time as Kennedy Jr.’s speech. During the episode, Reid talked with D. L. Hughley, a comedian and supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, about men supporting Harris. The news ticker during their conversation read: “Male Support of Kamala Harris At DNC [Democratic National Convention] A Tonic To RNC’s [Republican National Convention] Toxic Masculinity.”
Sofia Kinzinger, the wife of Adam Kinzinger, who supports Harris and has been a fierce critic of Trump, replied to Ingraham on Saturday morning and wrote on X: “Ha! The hypocrisy! And @FoxNews decided not to air @AdamKinzinger’s speech on Thursday at the DNC because their republican audience didn’t need to hear you can still be conservative and not identify with Trump. If you work for FOX you have no right to talk about journalism.”
Ha! The hypocrisy! And @FoxNews decided not to air @AdamKinzinger ‘s speech on Thursday at the DNC because their republican audience didn’t need to hear you can still be conservative and not identify with Trump.
If you work for FOX you have no right to talk about journalism. https://t.co/wAjcJHyXet
— Sofia B. Kinzinger (@sofiakinzinger) August 24, 2024
Sofia Kinzinger previously worked as a communications staffer in the Trump White House. She was former Vice President Mike Pence‘s strategist communications director and the deputy assistant secretary for media operations under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), among other roles.
She told Newsweek via email on Saturday afternoon, “MAGA [Make America Great Again] folks can call Adam traitor or RINO [Republican in Name Only], but little do they know that he speaks out because he believes they deserve better.
She continued: “They’ve been fed lies, manipulated and abused by those they trust, and someone needs to speak truth to them whether they like it or not. Fox News deciding to not air Republicans at the DNC is yet another example of those echo chambers that keep the MAGA folks ignorant of the truth. The disservice is not toward someone like Adam, it’s towards their own listeners that have placed their trust on them.”
Newsweek has reached out to Fox News via email and Adam Kinzinger’s PAC, Country First, via social media direct message for comment on Saturday afternoon.
When Adam Kinzinger was speaking at the DNC, Fox News was airing its regularly programmed show Gutfeld! with Greg Gutfeld.
Meanwhile, Fox Business did air every DNC speech in full and Fox News published an op-ed by Adam Kinzinger, a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, earlier this month about the military service of Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz.
“I was a Republican for 12 years in Congress and I still hold onto the label. I never thought I’d be here, but listen, you never thought you’d see me here did you?” the former Illinois congressman said in his DNC speech. “But I’ve learned something about the Democratic Party. And I want to let my fellow Republicans in on the secret. The Democrats are as patriotic as us.”
He added: “I was relieved to discover that because I’ve learned something about my party, too. Something I couldn’t ignore. The Republican Party is no longer conservative. It has switched its allegiance. From the principles that gave it purpose, to a man whose only purpose is himself,” referencing Trump.
Adam Kinzinger, who served as an Illinois congressman from 2011 to 2023, was one of two Republicans to sit on the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot. On that day, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., in a failed attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden‘s 2020 election victory. The riot erupted following claims from Trump that the election was stolen from him via widespread voter fraud. There is no evidence to support such claims.
Kinzinger is now a senior political commentator for CNN.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images