Lisa Murkowski Rips GOP For Being ‘Afraid’ Of Criticizing Trump, Elon Musk
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said her Republican colleagues are “afraid” to speak out against President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk because of the threat of being called names and drawing a primary.
The Alaska senator, one of the last remaining Republicans willing to publically criticize Trump, made the remark during a press conference in Juneau on Tuesday.
“I get criticized for what I say and then everybody else is like, ‘How come nobody else is saying anything?’” Murkowski told reporters. “Well, figure it out. Because they’re looking at how many things are being thrown at me and it’s like, ‘Maybe I’ll just duck and cover.’”
“That’s why you’ve got everybody zip-lip, not saying a word, ’cause they’re afraid they’re going to be taken down, they’re going to be primaried, they’re going to be given names in the media,” she added. “You know what, we cannot be cowed into not speaking up.”
The independent-minded senator has more room to buck Trump than most of her fellow Republican senators. She isn’t facing reelection until 2028 after defeating a Trump-endorsed challenger in 2022. Alaska’s adoption of a ranked-choice voting system could also bolster her reelection odds should the 67-year-old lawmaker decide to run for a fourth term.
Still, Murkowski’s willingness to break with Trump stands in sharp contrast to how her party has fallen blindly in line behind his every move. After voting to convict Trump for inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Murkowski refused to back his reelection bid, criticized his rhetoric about immigrants, condemned his personal conduct and opposed several of his Cabinet nominees.
Trump, meanwhile, has said Murkowski is “worse than a RINO,” or Republican in name only.
“When people say, ‘Why aren’t you a better Republican ― and if you’re not, get out of the party’ ― until Alaskans tell me, ‘Lisa, it’s just not working anymore,’ I’m going to give you every last breath and I’m going to try and solve every little problem,” Murkowski said on Tuesday. “I’m not going to compromise my integrity by hiding from my words when I feel they need to be spoken.”
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Last week, Murkowski voted with Democrats to eliminate the budget of the Department of Government Efficiency, the Musk-led advisory group that is demolishing federal agencies and laying off government employees without congressional approval. In a speech to Alaska’s legislature this week, she called the terminations “indiscriminate,” “unlawful,” and said they were “traumatizing people.”
“It may be that Elon Musk has decided he’s going to take the next billion dollars that he makes off of Starlink and put it directly against Lisa Murkowski,” she said on Tuesday, referring to the billionaire’s satellite internet company. “And you know what, that may happen. But I’m not giving up one minute, one opportunity to try and stand up for Alaskans.”
