At the beginning of December, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) — who is angling to be the Speaker of the House in January when the Republicans take over — announced that Republicans would be reading the Constitution aloud as their first thing in the new Congress so that all the members could hear it and understand it before they start their work.

This is sorely needed, for both sides of the aisle, to remind them of what they swore to uphold and of their obligations to the American people.

Unfortunately, it may be a bit late for Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who doesn’t seem to understand some of the most basic principles of the Constitution. He embarrassed himself in yet another tweet on Thursday night. Isn’t there anyone on his staff or in his family that can tell him to stop tweeting at night? Because he always manages to step into it and make a foolhardy statement.

Quick reminder: pleading the 5th is because you don’t want to incriminate yourself. We respect the 5th amendment, but pleading the 5th says a lot

— Adam Kinzinger #fella (@AdamKinzinger) December 23, 2022

“Quick reminder: pleading the 5th is because you don’t want to incriminate yourself,” Kinzinger claimed. “We respect the 5th amendment, but pleading the 5th says a lot.”

Yikes. No, Adam. The 5th Amendment is your constitutional right; it’s preventing you from being compelled to testify. It’s in the very nature of the right that invoking it cannot be used legally against you. To imply otherwise is problematic and diminishes the right which he’s supposed to be upholding.

This is a lawmaker? It’s scary that you can have a member of Congress who doesn’t seem to even have a rudimentary understanding of one of the most important rights in the Bill of Rights. But this is Adam, he’s always making pronouncements without having any idea of what he is talking about. This may explain why he was willing to throw in with the Democrats on the farcical show trial the Jan. 6 Committee has put on, a completely partisan exercise without any Republican-appointed representation and no rebuttal to the Democratic narrative allowed. The 5th Amendment is our protection against witch trials and people like Adam who assume guilt. No defendant should ever want this man on a criminal jury when he has such a poor understanding of our constitutional rights. He doesn’t “respect” the Amendment if he doesn’t recognize people’s rights. And this is the guy who keeps trying to claim he’s making a stand to “save democracy”?

What are MSNBC or CNN even going to have this guy say if he goes to work for them as a commentator when he doesn’t understand such basic information? Of course, they don’t much care about the Constitution either. He’ll just fulfill the role of constantly attacking Republicans.

Most people on Twitter knew far more than Adam about our Constitution and schooled him with a well-deserved ratio on how ignorant his tweet was.

False: The 5th Amendment protects the innocent as well as the guilty from helping the government prosecute them. It is NOT an admission of a crime. The congressman and the J6 committee know this, but repeatedly used their power to spread and exploit this falsehood. https://t.co/MYdZTmekub

— Mike Columbo (@MikeColumboEsq) December 23, 2022

The 5th Amm protects against coerced confessions — which should never be forgotten. Think China, North Korea.

But it also protects the innocent against the overwhelming power of the state, especially in ambiguous circumstances or facts.

Does Kinzinger know this? He should.

— Political Sock (@politicalsock) December 23, 2022

Let’s put Kinzinger under oath and ask some very specific questions around J6. And while we’re at it, we will do a deep dive into the past seven years of his taxes. Let’s see if he too pleads the 5th… This will say a lot. https://t.co/fRq5uRgurt

— Dan Lawrence (@coramdeoDan) December 23, 2022

Fortunately, Kinzinger is out the door in the new Congress because of the redistricting done by his Democratic buddies. I did my “Adieu” to Adam already after he gave his goodbye remarks, praising himself for his great bravery. Even Tucker Carlson had a little fun mocking him, as he bid him farewell. But I think that Kinzinger is going to find out that apart from MSNBC or CNN, no one has much of a place for an angry, ranting guy who threatens cats on Twitter and can’t be bothered to adhere to uphold the basic requirements of his job.