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Every day it seems as if Donald Trump is inflicting new horrors on the nation — catastrophic trade wars, the undermining of public health, mass deportations without due process. Fear is an understandable response to this ongoing nightmare, but it’s even scarier when our elected representatives share that emotion.
“We are all afraid,” Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski admitted last week at an event in Anchorage. “It’s quite a statement. We’re in a time and 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. But that’s what you’ve asked me to do and so I’m going to use my voice to the best of my ability.” (Watch below.)
Murkowski’s remarks are alarming because there’s no reason she should fear “retaliation” in any normal political sense. She held off a primary challenge in 2022 and isn’t up for reelection until 2028. But everyone understands that defying Trump can bring dangers more grave than well-funded primary challenges.
After all, on January 6, Trump sicced a violent mob on his own vice president when he wouldn’t follow his illegal orders, and since returning to office, Trump has behaved more like a mob boss than a commander in chief. Indeed, Murkowski sounds sadly resigned to this fact, like someone bravely fighting a terminal illness with no hope of a cure.
Trump is not a normal president who governs through persuasion and political savvy. He constantly resorts to coercive threats. A system where that becomes normal isn’t a democracy. It’s a reign of terror.
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The perils of the enemies list
To be clear, Murkowski is hardly a member of the resistance. But she has done more to oppose Trump than just talking.
Murkowski voted against confirming Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel. In 2017, she defied Trump’s bullying and joined Susan Collins and John McCain to save the Affordable Care Act. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke reportedly warned Murkowski a “no” vote on repeal could “put Alaska's future with the administration in jeopardy,” specifically road projects, drilling rights, and other issues that would benefit from executive branch support.
Murkowski voted to convict Trump following his impeachment for January 6. That came after a 2020 campaign where she made headlines for her criticisms of Trump and reluctance to support him. That summer, she was the target of a string of nasty tweets from the Orange Menace, who vowed to campaign against her in 2022.
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