Following news that GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger would not be seeking reelection, Donald Trump couldn’t help but rub his hands together over the end of the Illinois Republican’s career. Kinzinger has been an outspoken critic of the former president.

In a video early Friday morning, Kinzinger announced he would not be running again, citing his campaign promise that if he “ever thought it was time to move on from Congress,” he would do so.

Liz Harrington, Trump’s new spokesperson, continued to violate the Twitter ban on Trump’s messages by tweeting out his statement to her 220,000 followers:

NEW!

“2 down, 8 to go!” – President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/khpGGR2SD5

— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) October 29, 2021

The numerical reference is to the ten Republicans, of whom Kinzinger was one, who voted to impeach Trump in his second impeachment trial on charges of inciting the riot that took place at the US Capitol building on January 6. The first of the “two” that Trump is talking about was Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio.

Alluding to Trump once again, Kinzinger said in the video that today’s brand of politics has “allowed leaders to reach the power selling the false premise that strength comes from degrading others and dehumanizing those that look, act or think differently than we do.”

That’s clearly a reference to Trump’s professional wrestling-style brand of politics, and to the GOP members who have joined him in campaigning and even governing in this way.

Gonzalez, the other House Republican who elected not to run again, cited a similar feeling within the GOP, saying that “the current state of our politics, especially the toxic dynamics inside our own party, is a significant factor” in his decision not to seek another term.

Could it be that there is an upswell of Republican resistance to the kind of down-and-dirty fighting that Trump and much of the rest of the Party has embraced?

We can only hope so, if only to shut Trump up for just a few moments.