• People on Twitter are upset with Kinzinger for joining conservatives in mocking Kamala Harris.
  • They're saying he shouldn't have seized on a video of the VP describing herself to viewers at an ADA event.
  • "Blind and low vision people might want to watch this," one disability rights advocate tweeted.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who has been praised for his role on the January 6 committee, is disappointing some people on Twitter for joining conservatives in mocking Vice President Kamala Harris.

They're saying the Illinois Republican shouldn't have seized on a video clip that went viral among conservatives of Harris, introducing herself with her pronouns and describing herself as "a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit." The video he retweeted doesn't mention that she was speaking to disability advocates at an event marking the 33rd anniversary of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

"If you ever wonder why the left still can't win elections despite the insanity of Trumpism, save stuff like this for reference later 👇👇👇. You can get mad at me, but I'm not wrong," Kinzinger tweeted on Wednesday.

People did, in fact, get mad at Kinzinger engaging in Republican culture wars. They let him know they didn't expect this from him after his role holding his own party accountable as a member of the House January 6 committee.

Here's one response from Steve Silberman, author of NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity: "In which @AdamKinzinger, an allegedly "good" Republican sitting on the 1/6 Committee, proudly pisses all over the legacy of Sen. Bob Dole, who championed the Americans with Disabilities Act, to take a cheap shot."

Kinzinger fired back at Silberman, saying he needs to read his tweet.

"I was making a point that these things aren't popular.  But if you think the middle loves it then by all means keep it up," Kinzinger tweeted. "We'll see who was right after the election.  If you are I'll happily admit it, I'm not too proud."

He later added, "Also if you can find where Bob Dole have his pronouns with being a man at a table please do.  That could sway me."

 

Sam Crane, a disability rights advocate, tweeted that she attended the event and that Harris was describing herself because "Blind and low vision people might want to watch this." And then she tangled with Kinzinger after he retweeted a Democratic consultant who questioned whether Blind Americans aren't familiar with who the sitting vice president is. Kinzinger responded that was his point.

"People can say I'm being insensitive, but, I'm not," Kinzinger tweeted. "I know what this is. I made the point that this kind of stuff does NOT sit well with the middle. Yet the anger is focused on those of us telling the facts."

Crane responded: "Do you truly believe every Blind person is a radical leftist, or are you just hoping to ensure that they all are by the time you're done with this schtick?" 

 

"Thoughtful people" explained why Harris did this, Connie Schultz, a writer who is married to Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, responded to Kinzinger.

"For a while there, you became a hero to many Americans who are scared for our democracy," she wrote. "How sad that you choose to squander that good will."

The American Association of People with Disabilities, after hearing questions about visual descriptions, tweeted that they are an accessibility practice for "blind and low-vision people" to ensure everyone context that sighed people may take in.

"A good example of a visual self-description is: "I am a woman sitting at a table wearing a blue suit," they tweeted. "We are glad to see this accessibility practice expanded in government, and hope to see more government leaders give visual self-descriptions in the future!"

Kinzinger, 44, is retiring after this Congress rather than run for reelection for a seventh term. He currently represents a northern Illinois district and was among the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in the immediate aftermath of the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. Kinzinger has since spoken openly about the possibility of challenging Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primaries. 

Read the original article on Business Insider