Alaska Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski apparently has some concerns.
And she’s not alone.
Murkowski reportedly “told a room full of Alaska nonprofit leaders that the tumult of tariffs, executive orders, court battles, and cuts to federal services under the Trump administration are exceptionally concerning,” according to the Anchorage Daily News.
She went on to describe President Donald Trump's second term as “head spinning,” adding that “it seems that just when you’ve made a little bit of progress on one issue that had caused so much anxiety, there’s another one.”
“We are all afraid,” Sen Murkowski told constituents. “It’s quite a statement. But we are we’re in a time & place where I don’t know I certainly have not, I have not been here before. And I’ll tell you. I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real. And that’s not right…”
In the early days of Trump’s second term, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has openly challenged or rebuked him at least three times — stunning for a congressional Republican who has faced his wrath before and yet remains unbowed by pressure to embrace his agenda.
Murkowski is a moderate with a history of bucking her party and Trump when she has felt it was the right thing to do. She was the first GOP senator to publicly break ranks with Trump on his nomination of Pete Hegseth as defense secretary as it advanced this week. Murkowski also said she “strongly” disagreed with Trump’s move to rename North America’s tallest peak, in Alaska, from Denali to Mount McKinley. And she denounced his decision to pardon “the violent offenders who assaulted” police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Murkowski was one of three Republicans to vote against Hegseth’s nomination late Friday, along with Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. It took Vice President JD Vance’s tiebreaking vote to confirm Hegseth.
But, so far, nearly every other GOP member of Congress has fallen in line behind Trump.
Many of the Republicans who at times challenged Trump during his first term are no longer in the Senate, including the late John McCain of Arizona; Jeff Flake, also from Arizona; Bob Corker of Tennessee; and Mitt Romney of Utah. That has left a diminished group of Republicans seemingly willing to oppose Trump, lessening the chances he will be stymied by members of his own party in Congress.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ad Choices